Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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Contents
1. Upholding the New York Promise ................................. 38
Part 1. Advancing the Women’s Agenda ............................. 38
Proposal: Combat Sexual Harassment in the
Workplace ....................................................................................... 41
Proposal: Codify Roe v. Wade into State Law and
Constitution ................................................................................... 43
Proposal: Pass the Comprehensive Contraceptive
Coverage Act .................................................................................. 45
Proposal: Remove Firearms from Domestic Abusers46
Proposal: End Sextortion and Revenge Porn ................ 48
Proposal: Call on the New York State Common
Retirement Fund to Invest in Companies with Women
and Minority Leadership ......................................................... 52
Proposal: Reauthorize MWBE Program Legislation
and Expand the MWBE Program to All State-Funded
Contracts ......................................................................................... 54
Part 2. Creating A Safer, Smarter and Fairer Criminal
Justice System ................................................................................... 57
Proposal: Reform the Criminal Justice System: Bail,
Speedy Trial, Civil Asset Forfeiture and Re-Entry ....... 58
Proposal: Build a Stronger Juvenile Justice System to
Improve Youth Outcomes ........................................................ 67
Proposal: Reduce New York’s Use of Solitary
Confinement................................................................................... 69
Proposal: Protect the Rights and Safety of New
Yorkers in Local Jails ................................................................. 70
Proposal: Pass the Child Victims Act ................................. 73
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Proposal: Streamline the Subpoena Process for Cases
of Online Sexual Abuse of Children..................................... 74
Part 3. Launching a Comprehensive Plan to Attack
Homelessness.................................................................................... 77
Proposal: Require Outreach and a Comprehensive
Homeless Services Plan from Each Local Social
Services District ........................................................................... 78
Proposal: Increase Mental Health and Substance Use
Disorder Services for Individuals Experiencing
Homelessness ................................................................................ 80
Part 4. We Are All New Yorkers: Immigrant Rights ..... 81
Proposal: Pass the DREAM Act.............................................. 83
Proposal: Continue the First-In-the-Nation Liberty
Defense Project to Provide Critical Legal
Representation to Immigrants............................................. 84
Proposal: Establish the One World Utica Welcome &
Opportunity Center .................................................................... 85
Part 5. Promoting Tolerance .................................................... 86
Proposal: Protect Against Gender Identity-Based
Discrimination and Harassment......................................... 87
Proposal: Fight Hate, Embrace Diversity ........................ 89
Part 6. Protecting the Rights of Workers ........................... 91
Proposal: Examine Eliminating the Minimum Wage
Tip Credit to Strengthen Economic Justice in New York
State ................................................................................................... 92
Proposal: Stand with Labor Unions Facing
Uncertainty from the Supreme Court ............................... 93
Part 7. Serving Our Veterans .................................................... 94
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Proposal: Prevent Financial Exploitation of Veterans
and Their Families...................................................................... 95
Proposal: Properly Designate New York State’s
Veterans Service Agency.......................................................... 96
Proposal: Expand Programs for Veterans Behind Bars
.............................................................................................................. 97
Proposal: Deliver Access to Justice for Veterans
through Law School Partnerships ...................................... 99
2. Expanding Educational Opportunity for All ........... 102
Part 1. Prioritizing Early Education ................................... 102
Proposal: Invest When It Matters Most: The First
1,000 Days of Life ..................................................................... 104
Proposal: Expand Pre-Kindergarten for Three- and
Four-Year-Olds in High-Need Schools Across the State
........................................................................................................... 108
Proposal: Establish the Child Care Availability Task
Force ............................................................................................... 109
Part 2. Setting the Right Learning Conditions .............. 110
Proposal: Launch a Five-Point Plan to Ensure No
Student Goes Hungry .............................................................. 112
Proposal: Improve School Mental Health Capacity and
Services in Community Schools ......................................... 118
Part 3. Lifting up the Teaching Profession ..................... 119
Proposal: Expand the Reach of Master Teachers ..... 121
Proposal: Continue the Successful New York State
Mentoring Program ................................................................ 122
Proposal: Extend the Empire State Excellence in
Teaching Program................................................................... 124
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Part 4. Expanding High Quality Education
Programming for All................................................................... 125
Proposal: Launch Another Round of the Empire State
After-School Program ............................................................ 126
Proposal: Expand the Successful Early College High
School Program by Growing the Network of Schools
Throughout the State ............................................................. 128
Proposal: Expand Computer Science Education to All
Elementary, Middle and High Schools ........................... 131
Proposal: Expand Access to Advanced Placement
Courses .......................................................................................... 134
Proposal: Increase Fines and Enforcement for Passing
Stopped School Buses ............................................................. 135
Part 5. Expanding Access to Higher Education ............ 137
Proposal: Launch the Second Phase of the Excelsior
Free Tuition Program ............................................................ 139
Proposal: Combat Exploding Student Debt ................. 140
3. NY Works............................................................................. 146
Part 1. Keeping New York Economically Competitive
................................................................................................................ 146
Proposal: Fight the Federal Tax Assault on New York
........................................................................................................... 147
Proposal: Reduce Taxes to Record Lows for Middle-
Class New Yorkers .................................................................... 149
Proposal: Continue to Reduce the Local Property Tax
Burden by Making the State's County Shared Services
Panels Permanent ................................................................... 150
Part 2. Preparing the Workforce of Today & Tomorrow
................................................................................................................ 155
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Proposal: Expand the New York Youth Works
Program........................................................................................ 157
Proposal: Invest in New York’s Workforce and Future
........................................................................................................... 159
Proposal: Develop the Next Generation of Nonprofit
Leaders .......................................................................................... 164
Proposal: Expand the Murphy Institute for Worker
Education and Labor Studies into the CUNY School of
Labor and Urban Studies ..................................................... 166
Part 3. Continuing the Bottom Up Regional Economic
Development Strategy ............................................................... 167
Proposal: Invest $750 Million for Round Eight of the
Regional Economic Development Councils ................. 168
Proposal: Launch Round Three of the Downtown
Revitalization Initiative ........................................................ 169
Proposal: Drive New York’s Drone Economy Forward
........................................................................................................... 171
Proposal: Become the National Leader in Industrial
Hemp Production ..................................................................... 173
Proposal: Grow New York’s Regional Agricultural
Commodities ............................................................................... 175
Proposal: Promote New York Agriculture Through
Taste NY and New Marketing............................................. 177
Proposal: Reimagine Rochester’s Riverfront ............. 180
Proposal: Create the Photonics-Related Businesses
Attraction Fund ......................................................................... 182
Proposal: Bring the New York Islanders Home with a
World-Class Arena and Redevelopment at Belmont
Park ................................................................................................. 183
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Part 4. Building 21st Century Infrastructure ................. 185
Proposal: Launch New NY Broadband Program Round
III Awards to Achieve Governor Cuomo’s Goal of
“Broadband for All”................................................................. 188
Proposal: Expand Cashless Tolling to the Entire New
York State Thruway and Port Authority Crossings 189
Proposal: Modernize the New York State Thruway
Service Areas Through a Public- Private Partnership
........................................................................................................... 192
Proposal: Promote the Integration of Autonomous
Vehicles in New York State .................................................. 194
Proposal: Invest in New Mass Transit, New Roads and
Bridges .......................................................................................... 196
Proposal: Take Steps to Revitalize Red Hook ............. 197
Proposal: Build a New Metro-North Station at
Woodbury Common ................................................................ 199
Proposal: Redevelop and Rebrand Stewart
International .............................................................................. 200
Proposal: Build the AirTrain to Create Train-to-Plane
Access to LaGuardia Airport............................................... 205
Proposal: Construct an Inland Port in Central New
York to Improve Regional Trade ...................................... 206
Proposal: Move I-81 Forward with Expanded EIS ... 208
Proposal: Advance the Transformative Long Island
Tunnel Proposal........................................................................ 210
Part 5. Fueling Clean Energy Jobs........................................ 211
Proposal: Increase Transmission of Clean and
Renewable Energy by Investing $200 Million to Meet
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Unprecedented Energy Storage Target of 1,500
Megawatts by 2025 ................................................................. 214
Proposal: Transform the New York Power Authority
into the Nation’s First Full-Scale Digital Utility ........ 216
Proposal: Solicit Proposals for Offshore Wind Power
........................................................................................................... 218
Proposal: Divest the New York Common Fund from
Fossil Fuel Investments ......................................................... 221
Proposal: Launch Charge NY 2.0 ...................................... 224
Part 6. Growing Tourism Across New York ................... 226
Proposal: Complete the New Expo Center to Continue
the Transformation of the New York State
Fairgrounds ................................................................................ 227
Proposal: Complete the Hudson River SkyWalk ....... 229
Proposal: Increase Year-Round Tourism for Upstate
New York through World Class Attractions at Our
Mountains and Olympic Facilities ................................... 231
Proposal: Bridge the Gap in the North Country’s
Tourism Lodging Needs ........................................................ 233
Proposal: Bring the World University Games back to
Lake Placid in 2023 ................................................................. 234
4. A Cleaner, Greener and Healthier New York: The
Wellness Agenda ....................................................................... 238
Part 1. Protecting the Health of Our Communities .... 238
Proposal: Reverse the Opioid Epidemic ........................ 239
Proposal: Enforce Lead Testing ........................................ 244
Proposal: Protect New Yorkers from Toxic Chemicals
in Personal Care Products ................................................... 245
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Proposal: Empower Health Care Consumers ............. 247
Proposal: Expand Access to Health Care in Rural New
York by Expanding Telehealth Services ........................ 251
Proposal: Strengthen the Rural Emergency Medical
Services System ......................................................................... 254
Proposal: Leverage Hospital Community Benefit
Investments to Support Prevention Initiatives ......... 257
Proposal: Support the Needs of the Modern Aging
Population ................................................................................... 259
Proposal: Become the National Leader in AgTech and
Food Research............................................................................ 262
Proposal: Implement a Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease
Control Plan ................................................................................ 265
Part 2. Expanding Access to Open Space ......................... 267
Proposal: Create a New 407-acre State Park in
Central Brooklyn ...................................................................... 269
Proposal: Build on the Success of the NY Parks 2020
State Parks Transformation............................................... 272
Proposal: Complete the Hudson River Park................ 274
Proposal: Stop Railcar Storage to Protect the Natural
Beauty of the Adirondacks .................................................. 275
Part 3. Protecting Our Clean Water.................................... 279
Proposal: Fast-track Containment and Treatment of
the 'Grumman Plume' ............................................................ 280
Proposal: Sue the EPA to Complete the Hudson River
Cleanup.......................................................................................... 283
Proposal: Attack Harmful Algal Blooms in New York’s
Waters ........................................................................................... 286
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Proposal: Require Expedited Corrective Actions at the
Niagara Falls Wastewater Treatment Facility ......... 289
5. Leading the Fight Against Climate Change .............. 292
Part 1. Building a Cleaner, More Resilient Future ..... 292
Proposal: Expand Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
and Reduce Emissions Equitably From the Highest-
Polluting, High Demand "Peaker" Power Plants...... 293
Proposal: Reconvene Scientific Advisory Committee
on Climate Change Disbanded by the Federal
Government................................................................................. 296
Proposal: Launch Resilient NY to Dramatically
Enhance Community Resiliency in the Face of Extreme
Weather ........................................................................................ 298
Proposal: Establish New Energy Efficiency Target by
Earth Day ..................................................................................... 301
Proposal: Create the Zero Cost Solar for All Program
for 10,000 Low-Income New Yorkers ............................. 304
Proposal: Reduce Emissions of the Most Potent and
Dangerous Greenhouse Gases ........................................... 306
Proposal: Invest Nearly $130 Million in Volkswagen
Settlement Proceeds in Clean Transportation Projects
........................................................................................................... 308
Proposal: Develop Comprehensive Strategies to
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the
Transportation Sector ........................................................... 310
Proposal: Establish and Develop the Climate Justice
Road Map ..................................................................................... 311
Proposal: Prepare Puerto Rico for the New Climate
Reality ............................................................................................ 313
6. Advancing the Democracy Agenda ............................ 318
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Part 1. Protecting the Sanctity of Our Elections .......... 318
Proposal: Increase Transparency in Digital Political
Ads ................................................................................................... 319
Proposal: Institute Early Voting ....................................... 325
Proposal: Adopt Automatic Voter Registration ........ 326
Proposal: Allow Same-Day Voter Registration ......... 327
Proposal: Enhance Statewide Election Cyber Security
Resilience and Defend Against Election Disruption 328
Part 2. Increasing Transparency and Continuing Ethics
Reform................................................................................................ 331
Proposal: Advance Constitutional Amendment
Limiting Outside Income and Creating a Fulltime
Legislature................................................................................... 334
Proposal: Advance Constitutional Amendment
Imposing Term Limits for Elected Officials................. 334
Proposal: Require Members of the Legislature
Seeking Outside Income to Obtain an Advisory
Opinion Before Earning Outside Income...................... 335
Proposal: Close the LLC Loophole .................................... 336
Proposal: Subject Local Elected Officials to Financial
Disclosure Requirements ..................................................... 337
Proposal: Institute Public Financing and Enact
Additional Campaign Finance Reforms ........................ 338
Proposal: Promote Increased Transparency through
Comprehensive Reforms to FOIL ...................................... 340
Proposal: Expand the Authority of the State Inspector
General .......................................................................................... 341
Proposal: Enact Procurement Reforms ........................ 342
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7. Building a Stronger, Safer New York ......................... 346
Part 1. Enhancing Public Safety............................................ 346
Proposal: Cut Off the Pipelines of MS-13 Recruitment
........................................................................................................... 348
Proposal: Construct a Field Operations Building at the
Academy of Fire Science to Enhance Firefighter
Training ........................................................................................ 353
Part 2. Strengthening Anti-Terrorism and Crisis
Response ........................................................................................... 354
Proposal: Establish the Strongest Counter Terrorism
Program in the Nation........................................................... 355
Proposal: Reduce Cyber Risk in New York State’s
Supply Chain ............................................................................... 357
Proposal: Develop a School Safety Response System to
Ensure First Responders Have Real-Time Access to the
Blueprints of Every School in New York State ............ 359
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GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO
STATE OF THE STATE 2018
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We have honored the taxpayer and achieved
historic fiscal discipline. For the first time in 50 years,
thanks to you, we passed 7 timely, responsible budgets.
With our 2 percent fiscal discipline, we actually did more
with less. And it’s working. Every New Yorker’s tax rate
is lower today than when I took office. We have the
highest credit rating in 40 years, unemployment is down
from 8.3 percent to 4.7 percent, and down in every single
region of the state. Today New York State has 8.1 million
private sector jobs—the highest number of jobs in
history.
We have also accomplished something else. We
have vindicated the promise of progressive government.
Progressive government requires citizen confidence and
management competence. Progressive leaders must be
dreamers and doers; visionaries and achievers.
We followed FDR’s progressive philosophy. Real
change for real people in real time. It was also my father’s
philosophy: he called himself a “pragmatic progressive,”
restoring confidence in government by actually
delivering progressive accomplishments.
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Consider what we have achieved together:
marriage equality, paid family leave, $15 minimum wage,
free college tuition, gun safety, the climate coalition, and
ambitious MWBE targets.
We are once again the nation’s vanguard for social
progress. We should feel confident in our ability as a
government to do what many believe can’t be done.
And we will need that confidence because 2018
may be the toughest year New York has faced in modern
history. We have unprecedented challenges ahead on
every level. This moment in time requires stark candor
and bold action. We are facing a three front war.
First, we have the old challenges of discrimination
and sexism that have plagued society for years but have
recently been exposed for their prevalence and
virulence. Enlightened government must seize the
moment to attack these social diseases that are long
institutionalized and culturalized.
Second, we face new challenges threatening our
safety and quality of life: terrorism, climate change,
environmental threats, including to our drinking water,
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and the growing opioid epidemic, a scourge across our
state, that claimed more than 3,000 lives last year.
And lastly, we have federal and economic
challenges never experienced before. They threaten the
essence of our economy. In the short term, we face a $4
billion deficit and $2 billion in cuts in federal aid. Even
more challenging, in the long term our divisive federal
government has hurt our state’s economic position by
taxing our state and local taxes, making us less
competitive and helping other states at our expense.
While we are working for economic and social
progress our federal government is working to roll back
New York’s position as a leading economy in the country;
to roll back a woman’s right to choose; to roll back
environmental protection; to roll back health care for the
poor; to roll back access to college loans; to roll back
LGBTQ rights; to roll back labor’s right to organize; to roll
back our historic tax cuts; and – with DACA – to roll back
an immigrant child’s opportunity to be an American. We
cannot and we must not let that happen.
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Let us start our agenda by addressing the first
challenge: the old, ugly, persistent problems of sexism,
racism and homelessness. The most important element
of New York’s social progress agenda is equality:
guaranteed by the constitution and our belief in human
rights. Our country is finally taking a long look in the
mirror as to how we treat women and we are disgusted
with what we see, and we should be.
Our challenge is to turn society’s revulsion into
reform. Carpe diem—to seize the day—to learn, to grow,
and to change. As we did with gun violence after Sandy
Hook, as we did with sexual assault on campuses, let New
York lead the way once again.
Let New York State stand and say we are not the
state of denial. We acknowledge the longstanding bias
and abuse against women, and New York says it stops, it
stops here, and it stops now.
We must also assure the people of our state that
our democratic foundation, our justice system, is in fact,
just. We have made many reforms, but we have more to
do.
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The truth is that our Lady Justice is still not color
blind and her scales are still not balanced. Our jails are
filled with people that should not be
incarcerated. Punishment is supposed to be imposed
when one is found guilty. We need bail reform. The blunt
ugly reality is that our system is too often biased against
the poor—if you can make bail you are set free—if you
are too poor to make bail you are punished.
We also need discovery reform and speedy trial
reform. We need to move cases faster. Trial parts must
operate from 9 to 5 and a judge’s performance must be
an essential criterion in advancement. To compound this
injustice, people are held in facilities and under
conditions that we would condemn as human rights
violations if they were occurring in another country.
Our tolerance for the ongoing injustice is
repugnant to our position as the progressive capital of
the nation. Some jails in our state have long records of
violations that continue for years.
We must act with a new urgency to safeguard the
rights of all New Yorkers—too long neglected. It is a
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state-wide problem. I am directing the State Corrections
Commission to develop corrective action plans or
closure orders on jails that are out of compliance.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Justice too long
delayed is justice denied,” and that is not our New
York. Homelessness is on the rise in our cities and worse
than ever before. It pains me personally to acknowledge
this reality. I began my public work at 26 running a not-
for-profit to help homeless families. It became the largest
in the nation. In 1992 I headed Mayor David Dinkins’
Homeless Commission.
When I was HUD Secretary we completed
President Bill Clinton’s plan to solve homelessness. We
always believed this was a momentary problem—an
anomaly—this could not go on. In many places and in
New York there was much progress. But now the
problem has come back with a vengeance.
And looking forward with the federal government
threatening to cut funding for homeless people, it will
only get worse. We must act.
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The most difficult issue is homeless people on the
streets. The ultimate need is affordable housing and
supportive housing and our budget has an historic state
commitment in these areas.
But it is also an issue of our philosophy and
expectations. We have grown too accepting. Remember,
at one time there were no homeless people on the
streets. What does it say about us—as a society—that we
now pass men and women lying on the streets with the
same ease that we pass light poles and mailboxes?
It has become part of our new normal. But it’s
abnormal and it’s wrong. It is our obligation as a caring
people—a compassionate society—to reach out, to
provide whatever social services or address whatever
needs the individual presents. It is our job.
With all we have to do as a government, it is more
important than ever that we have the public trust. We
have done much on ethics reform, but we must do more.
Step two in our agenda is to focus on the new
problems—rising terrorism, environmental change, the
opioid crisis, the federal threat to the labor movement,
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the distortion and manipulation of our elections by big
donors, foreign money and social media advertising, and
the alienation of our citizens.
We start with protecting the environment and
recognizing the growing threats to our drinking water.
The growing concentration of chemicals and pollution in
some areas is literally poisoning the water. In the
beautiful lakes upstate, toxic algae is spreading. On Long
Island, the Grumman plume carries 30 years of industrial
stains and contaminants.
We must attack this growing health threat
because we will not poison our children—no more
procrastination—we will do it this year. Nationwide we
are witnessing a shocking phenomenon—we are dying
younger. Last year, life expectancy for Americans
declined for the second year in a row – the first time this
has happened in 50 years.
The reason? A staggering 21 percent increase in
drug overdoses. For Americans under 50 years old, drug
overdoses, mostly opioid-related, are the leading cause
of death. We must face it head on. We are committed to
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a comprehensive solution: More prevention. More
education. More enforcement. More treatment.
But we also want to advance a new approach—
the ultimate follow-the-supply chain strategy. Big
corporations may own Washington but they don’t own
New York.
The opioid crisis was manufactured—literally
and figuratively. We will make the distributors pay for
their illegal and reprehensible conduct. And we will stop
the spread of opioids because too many innocent lives
have been lost.
A case before Washington’s Supreme Court seeks
to effectively end public labor unions. We will await the
decision in the Janus case but we must do all in our power
to protect collective bargaining, the right to organize, and
preserve workers’ rights.
We believe labor unions have built the middle
class and we are proud New York State has the highest
percentage of union workers in the country. Today we
pledge that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our
union brothers and sisters to fight this threat.
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At this time of citizen alienation and outrage—the
best thing we can do is let people know that their voice is
heard—that they matter and they can and should vote—
we should make it easy, not hard, with same day
registration, no fault absentee ballots, and early voting.
We should close the LLC loophole and open up the
electoral process with public financing, and not our
current system that has public financing but private
loopholes: a true public financing system in which the
exception does not swallow the rule.
Social media has revolutionized our elections.
While we respect the freedom of the internet, it cannot
subvert the law. Foreign countries like Russia and big
anonymous donors cannot jeopardize our democracy.
Social media must disclose who or what pays for
political advertising because sunlight is still the best
disinfectant. Disclosure must apply to social media the
same way that it applies to a newspaper ad or a TV ad or
a radio ad. Anything else is a perversion of the law and
an affront to democracy.
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Let’s stop this abuse and while Washington
dithers let New York lead the way. Terrorism is
morphing in unpredictable ways. The internet provides
easy access to ISIS instruction manuals and lone wolves
are a new threat. The internet companies must search
their hearts and minds to determine their obligation to
public safety when they know who is visiting terrorist
sites and they know who is learning how to kill
Americans.
In the meantime, we must protect ourselves with
more and better trained police and state of the art
surveillance equipment. The state owns many of the
places of potential vulnerability, our bridges, tunnels,
trains, buses and airports, our transit hubs like Penn
Station and Grand Central. Our transportation system
must be better protected – now. And we will do just that.
Our third challenge is the greatest—the
budgetary and economic challenges we face short term
and long term compounded by the federal assault on
New York. President Ford may have metaphorically told
New York to drop dead in 1975, but this federal
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government is the most hostile and aggressive towards
New York in history. It has shot an arrow aimed at New
York’s economic heart.
We will start the year with a $4 billion deficit,
compounded by $2 billion in federal cuts primarily to
health care. Even worse, the federal tax bill reshapes the
nation’s economy: their tax plan is trickle down on
steroids. It didn’t work in the 1980s and it won’t work
now. The rich will get richer, I have no doubt. But if the
federal government really wanted to help workers, the
law would have mandated that the corporations’ tax
windfall go to pay workers higher wages. It didn’t. The
omission speaks volumes.
At the same time, Washington has launched an all-
out direct attack on New York State’s economic future by
eliminating full deductibility of state and local taxes. This
effectively raises middle class and working families’
property tax 20 to 25 percent. New York is already the
number one donor state in the nation paying Washington
$48 billion more than we get back. No state contributes
more to the federal government and gets back less—than
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New York. On top of that injustice, Washington’s tax plan
now uses New York and California as piggybanks to
finance tax cuts for Republican states. New York will pay
an additional $14 billion on top of the $48 billion we
currently pay.
They changed the old adage robbing Peter to pay
Paul—they are now robbing the blue states to pay for the
red states. It is crass, ugly, divisive, partisan legislating. It
is an economic Civil War. We must take dramatic action
to save ourselves and preserve our state’s economy.
It is an issue of New York State's economic
viability. It is a question of preserving the strength of
New York’s economy or giving other states a structural
competitive advantage. I have no doubt that we can
overcome this assault working together.
In the meantime, we must do a fiscal plan for this
year. The way forward in this budget is to continue on
the path that we have followed to move this state
forward. Our philosophy rests on two pillars: economic
growth and social progress.
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We must maintain our New York priorities: we
must continue our historic investment in public
education, and expand 3 and 4-year-old Pre K, after
school and computer sciences, because our greatest
asset is our young people and everything we do is for
their future.
We must address education funding inequities
and dedicate more of our state school aid to poorer
districts.
We must continue our investment in health care.
We must preserve the Medicaid program and CHIP—
health insurance for poor children— because in New
York health care is not just for the rich and well off—it is
a human right.
We must continue to be the nation’s leader in
building new infrastructure to grow our economy. We
are ahead of every other state—and we must increase
our advantage.
And we must continue our ground breaking social
progress: to advance equality and opportunity for all,
because we are all immigrants and we are all equal under
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the laws of New York and in the eyes of God. We can and
must achieve these goals, and we will.
On the economy, our economic focus remains on
helping our working men and women by continuing our
Middle Class Recovery Act. We start by giving them
immediate relief, not with words but with action, and
cutting taxes for the middle class. While the federal
government is making college less affordable, we must
expand our Excelsior free college program that helps the
children of our anxious middle class and tells every child
in New York their dreams can be realized and their
future can be brighter. And in the same spirit we must
include our young new immigrants and pass the Dream
Act.
We must continue to attack the highest tax
burden in the state—not a state tax but the cost of local
governments—our local property tax. Our property tax
has long been an obstacle to growth, but today—with the
federal SALT provision—it is an economic cancer.
We must increase the efforts by local
governments to reduce costs. It is politically difficult for
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them I know, but it is now a matter of economic survival.
We know it can be done.
We must continue to attract and create the jobs of
tomorrow and we must do it today. The New York
difference is we don’t promise it or propose it or talk
about it—we do it. Good government is about action.
We must continue to exercise our New York
muscle and imagination—the New York spirit that built
the tallest buildings and longest bridges—that defied
gravity, pessimism and the naysayers. We have proven
we can do it and do it well.
Now, we must do more. We must accelerate the
modernization of our airports in New York City and
across upstate. We must accelerate our air train to
LaGuardia. We must open up our transportation deserts
and have the Port Authority and the MTA consider
relocating the Red Hook marine terminal and explore
whether Red Hook has enough transportation
alternatives and, if not, to study the possibility of a new
subway line to stimulate Red Hook’s community based
development.
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We will accelerate the Long Island Rail Road
modernization. It is long overdue and is critical to the
regional economy. In 2018, as part of our $6.6 billion
LIRR transformation plan, we will complete the double
track on the Ronkonkoma line—16 months ahead of
schedule—and we will begin construction of the third
track along the Main Line, which carries 40 percent of
LIRR riders. Altogether there are 100 projects, and they
will transform the quality of life on Long Island.
A new economy is growing across Upstate and we
cannot allow the federal tax plan to derail our progress.
The Regional Economic Development Councils
have done great work and 6,300 economic development
projects are under way. Every region has seen a drop in
unemployment and new economic growth.
This year we will start by continuing the REDCs
and also bringing the advantages of cashless tolling to
our New York State Thruway system – making it faster
and cleaner. We have new projects like Roc the Riverway
in Rochester that will transform the Genesee waterfront
to a destination center.
31
In the Southern Tier we will continue our
development of the hemp industry by partnering on a
new hemp processing facility. In Syracuse we will do a
DEIS for Route 81 as a tunnel or a community grid, and
proceed on the inland port at Dewitt.
The I Love NY campaign revealed a great secret to
the world—the beauty and history of our state. Since
2011, our $200 million tourism investment has seen our
annual tourism spending increase by $18 billion. It’s an
investment paying dividends and we should double
down.
I propose new modernization investments in
Belleayre, Gore, and Whiteface mountains to make them
first-rate ski resorts, a new history trail leading to Olana,
and expediting a new exposition center—the largest in
the Northeast—in Syracuse. It’s about jobs, jobs and jobs,
and tourism means jobs for upstate New York.
While our federal government is deconstructing
our National Parks, we believe our state parks are a
treasure. This year we will invest in our upstate park
system, continue our rebirth of Jones Beach and open the
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largest state park in New York City, 407-acres on Jamaica
Bay.
The Hudson River Park in New York City was
started by my father and Mayor Dinkins—it was to be
finished in 2003. It was derailed, but we settled ongoing
disputes between the parties and will now have a full
completion plan from Battery Park City to 59th Street.
We should finalize this amazing vision this year and
complete Manhattan’s West Side.
This is an ambitious agenda, but these are
challenging times ahead. And we must rise to the
challenge. We face a $4 billion deficit, economic
challenges, social wrongs and a federal assault.
The small-minded and the naysayers will forecast
gloom and doom. Negativity is dominant in today’s
political environment. But this is New York and that is
not the New York way. The New York way is to make the
seemingly impossible—possible.
Tell us we can’t do it, and you only get us excited
to show you how we can. We have done it time and time
again.
33
We have the track record to prove it—we have
accomplished more than any state government in
modern history.
In the spirit of candor demanded by the times, I
tell you my greatest fear for us is not the economics or
the federal assault—we can and will handle that—my
greatest fear is the division spreading among our people.
We have seen more anti-Semitism, more racial attacks
and more religious tensions than in decades.
We understand the emotions. This country is
searching its way through a challenging and confusing
period. From the economy, from terrorism, from Mother
Nature’s continuous bombardment, from the unnerving
constant change in society.
Anxiety is at a fever pitch. And now there is a
negative synergy—a sense that we are out of control and
that breeds a fear, and that fear breeds an anger, and that
anger breeds a division—and that division makes us
smaller and weaker. And our federal government is
furthering the divisions. They govern by dividing—
winners and losers, rich vs. middle class vs. poor, black
34
vs. white, red states vs. blue states, documented vs.
undocumented, gay vs. straight, Muslims vs. Jews vs.
Christians.
And much harm has been done. As the greatest
Republican President Abraham Lincoln said, “A house
divided against itself cannot stand.” But our obligation as
leaders is not just to say what we are against but also
what we support. Not just to criticize—but to offer an
alternative.
And we do. New York follows a different path.
New York believes that there is no future built through
division, but only through unity. The New York way is to
believe diversity is not a liability—but the exact opposite
—that diversity is our greatest asset. We celebrate it.
The New York way is that tolerance is expected
from all, inclusion is our operating principle, and forging
community is the ultimate goal. 18 million New Yorkers
from 190 countries—all immigrants, all newcomers,
virtually all poor and in search of opportunity. All invited
here to join the New York family by the same invitation
extended by the great Lady in the Harbor. It is not a new
35
principle. It’s not a Democratic or Republican idea, nor is
it even uniquely New York. It is an idea proven over 240
years. It is the nation’s founding premise and enduring
promise.
It is our Founding Father’s essential wisdom,
summed up in three word: E Pluribus Unum – “Out of
Many One.” So fundamental to the American idea that in
1782 they inscribed the words on the Great Seal of the
United States. And that seal and those words are on the
flag that has hung in the Oval Office every day since. Right
behind President Trump’s desk. To find the way forward,
the President only needs to turn around.
That is the true formula for what makes America
great. That is the simple yet profound idea that made
America the greatest country on the globe, and New York
was the laboratory. We proved that it worked in 1782,
and we prove that it still works today.
This year, let us show that at times of trouble and
anxiety, the premise that made America great still guides
us. That we do not seek to raise ourselves by pulling
36
another down, but rather believe we succeed by raising
each other up.
The New York way is True North and our True
North is to follow the credo on our great Seal of the State
of New York—always reach higher, always aspire to be
better, always point up—Excelsior.
37
1. UPHOLDING THE NEW
YORK PROMISE
40
and protect our rights against federal attempts to stall
and undermine us.
41
To further ensure accountability, the Governor
proposes a uniform code of sexual harassment policies
binding on all branches of state and local government
and an independent and anonymous whistleblower
process to help individuals to communicate complaints
across state and local government without fear of
retribution or consequence. To help bring justice to
victims of sexual harassment, Governor Cuomo also
proposes legislation that would void forced arbitration
policies or clauses in employee contracts that prevent
sexual harassment cases from consideration in law
enforcement investigation and court trials.
To combat the culture of silence that too often
shields abusers from accountability, Governor Cuomo
will take a series of actions to promote transparency
while simultaneously protecting the identity and privacy
of those who are harassed. Governor Cuomo will propose
legislation to prohibit confidentiality agreements
relating to sexual assault or harassment for all public
entities and branches of government—State and local—
unless it is the express preference of the victim. In
42
addition, Governor Cuomo proposes mandatory annual
reporting for any companies that do business with the
State that will require disclosure of the number of sexual
harassment violations and nondisclosure agreements
executed by that company. These measures will ensure
that all employees are provided with a safer work
environment, to which they are all entitled.
44
and the Governor will fight to protect women’s
reproductive health care in New York.
45
contraception and abortion, and he will continue to fight
for these essential rights.
In 2017, Governor Cuomo fought to uphold the
reproductive health protections of the Affordable Care
Act, irrespective of federal action, by enacting
regulations that ensured access to cost-free
contraception and medically necessary abortion. In
2018, the Governor will advance a program bill to codify
access to contraception, including emergency
contraception, into New York State law, by passing the
Comprehensive Contraceptive Coverage Act.
46
gun violence deaths. In nine of the 10 deadliest mass
shootings in United States history, including Las Vegas
and Sutherland Springs, the shooter had an existing
record of committing violence against women,
threatening violence against women, or openly
disparaging women. The evidence is clear: when a gun is
involved in a domestic violence situation, the threat of
death increases by 500 percent.3
Given the inextricable link between domestic
violence and lethal gun violence, Governor Cuomo is
closing loopholes in our legislative framework so that all
types of firearms are removed from domestic violence
perpetrators. New York law prohibits the possession of
firearms for individuals convicted of felony or “serious”
offenses, but this excludes certain misdemeanor offenses
involving domestic violence. To ensure that no domestic
abuser continues to possess a firearm, the Governor will
advance legislation to update the list of prohibited
offenses to include those domestic violence
misdemeanors which are shockingly absent from
current law.
47
Under existing New York law, possession of
handguns can be prohibited by judges under certain
circumstances including the issuance of an order of
protection or a conviction for a felony or “serious”
offense conviction. While sensible and well-intentioned,
the law fails to address possession of long guns such as
rifles and shotguns. The proposed legislation will correct
this by mandating that rifles and shotguns are
surrendered to law enforcement when handguns are
surrendered, such as in the cases of domestic violence
convictions and the issuance of orders of protection. This
legislation targets the unquestionable relationship
between domestic violence and gun violence. It will
serve the dual purpose of protecting future potential
victims of domestic violence—and the public at large.
48
signed the “Enough is Enough” legislation to combat
sexual assault on college campuses. He also directed the
State Police to create a special unit focused on campus
sexual assault cases to ensure these cases have the
appropriate investigatory resources behind them.
However, advances in technology and widespread use of
social media have enabled new forms of sexual
exploitation and targeted harm that are not sufficiently
addressed by existing law. Sextortion is a type of
exploitation that involves either coercion to extort sexual
acts from the victim, or the use of sexual images or videos
as a form of blackmail to force the victim to participate in
sexual acts, while revenge porn is the non-consensual
dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos
intended to harm another.
According to a 2016 Brookings Institute report,
71 percent of the sextortion cases studied involved
victims under the age of 18 with the vast majority being
female.4 Most sextortion cases involve social media
manipulation—where the perpetrator deceives the
victim into sending compromising pictures and, then,
49
coerces them for additional material. This manipulation
is particularly prevalent with underage victims,
occurring in 91 percent of their cases. Unfortunately,
reports of these crimes are dramatically rising. There
was a 90 percent increase in reported sextortion
between 2014 and 2015.5 These crimes traumatize their
victims and cause serious harm, with nearly a quarter of
sextortion victims seeking physical or mental health
services.6
To end this disturbing form of sexual exploitation,
Governor Cuomo proposes a two-pronged approach that
will criminalize disclosing or threatening to disclose
sexually compromising images or videos with the intent
to cause material harm to the victim's mental or
emotional health or to compel the victim to undertake
some sexual act; and criminalize compelling a person to
expose him or herself or engage in sexual conduct by
threatening to harm the victim’s health, safety, business,
career, financial condition, reputation or personal
relationships. This new legislation will create the
50
following crimes, which will also require registration as
a sex offender:
Unlawful Publication of Sexual Images: With
intent to cause material harm to mental or
emotional health, a person (1) disseminates
images of intimate sexual nature; or (2) compels
another to engage in conduct by threatening to
disseminate images of an intimate sexual nature.
This will be a class A misdemeanor; punishable by
up to one year in jail or three years of probation.
Sexual Extortion in the 3rd Degree: A person
compels or induces another person to expose his
or her sexual or intimate parts or engage in sexual
conduct by instilling a fear in him or her that, if
the demand is not complied with, the actor will
perform an act intended to harm the person, or
another person, with respect to his or her health,
safety, business, career, financial condition,
reputation or personal relationships. This will be
a class E Felony; punishable by up to four years in
prison.
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Sexual Extortion in the 2nd Degree: Same as
above but the victim is under 17-years-old. This
will be a class D Felony; punishable by up to seven
years in prison.
Sexual Extortion in the 1st Degree: Same as
above but the victim is under 15-years-old. This
will be a class C Felony; punishable by up to
fifteen years in prison.
Governor Cuomo is taking immediate actions to
combat this rising and disturbing form of crime. Through
these actions, New York State will be better positioned to
protect individuals from sexual extortion and to hold the
deplorable individuals who engage in these practices
accountable for their actions.
52
and Women Business Enterprises Program has seen
dramatic increases in participation due to the Governor’s
goal of 30 percent MWBE State contract utilization—the
highest goal of any state in the nation.
The Governor has overseen the creation of a
nation-leading menu of programs and initiatives to
encourage MWBEs to become certified and to provide
them with the technical tools and financial support
needed to compete for and win larger contracts, enter
new markets and create new well-paying jobs.
Notwithstanding the significant progress in State
contracting, women and minorities remain severely
underrepresented in business ownership, in
management roles and on corporate boards. For
example, while women make up over half of the U.S.
population and nearly half of the corporate workforce,
they make up only about 20 percent of corporate
boards.7
To further address these imbalances, in 2018,
Governor Cuomo will call for the New York Common
Retirement Fund to invest in companies with adequate
53
female and minority representation in their
management and on their boards of directors. The
Governor will work with Comptroller DiNapoli to put in
place processes and standards to systematically invest in
companies that invest in women and minority
leadership. A company cannot have good management,
by definition, if that management is not representative of
its employees, its customers, and society more broadly.
54
In the last two years alone, the State has certified over
2,100 MWBEs.
In 2017, the Governor released the New York
State 2016 Minority and Women-Owned Business
Enterprise Disparity Study (Study), which evaluated the
participation of MWBEs in State contracts from April 1,
2010 through March 31, 2015. The Study finds
statistically-significant evidence of underutilization of
MWBEs in State contracting in both the prime contract
and subcontract levels in the construction, construction-
related services, non-construction related services and
commodities industries. The Study, therefore, provided
ample support to continue the MWBE program and
expand upon the State’s ongoing efforts to increase
access, resources, and business opportunities for the
MWBE community. Based upon the Study findings and
recommendations, the Governor will propose legislation
that will seek the reauthorization of the program, which
is due to expire this year, and increase the participation
of minority and women-owned businesses in all levels of
55
State contracting—both prime contractors and
subcontractors.
In order to continue building on this promise,
Governor Cuomo will also propose legislation during the
2017 session that will expand the MWBE Program to
more contracts entirely funded by the State. Under
current State law, MWBE goals only apply to State-
funded contracts issued by State agencies and
authorities, but do not attach to contracts issued by
localities and other entities which are funded by the
State. The legislation will require MWBE goals on State
funds used for contracting purposes on the local level.
The proposed changes to authorizing legislation and
expansion to include all State-funded contracts will
leverage the largest pool of State funding in history to
combat systemic discrimination and create new
opportunities for MWBE participation at every level. In
doing so, the State will further its goal to help minority
and women business owners overcome entrenched
barriers to success.
56
Part 2. Creating A Safer, Smarter and Fairer
Criminal Justice System
58
Bail Reform: New York’s jails are currently filled
with an alarming majority of individuals who
have not been convicted of any crime and are
simply waiting for their day in court. In fact, in
New York City, more than 75 percent of people
held in jail last year were pretrial defendants.8
Throughout the rest of the State in 2016, more
than 60 percent of people were held pretrial.9
This is unacceptable and blind to justice. To
address this, the Governor will advance
legislation to accomplish the following:
o First, the law will create a presumption
that people facing misdemeanor and non-
violent felony charges must be released,
and they must be released without cash
bail. People will be released either on their
own recognizance or with non-monetary
conditions imposed by the court, such as
reporting to a pretrial services agency.
o Second, monetary bail would be
permitted, but not required, in remaining
59
cases, after an individualized assessment
of the nature of the case and the
defendant’s personal and financial
circumstances. If a judge does set bail, the
court must give the defendant a choice
between cash or bail industry bonds and
an alternative form of bail that the judge
will set, such as an unsecured or partially
secured bond.
o Third, in cases involving domestic violence
or other serious violence, or if, while on
pretrial release, a defendant commits a
crime or willfully fails to come to court, a
judge could order a defendant to be held in
jail pretrial if the court finds, after due
process, that the defendant poses a high
risk of not returning to court or poses a
current threat to the physical safety of a
reasonably identifiable person or persons.
Discovery Reform: New York is one of only 10
states that enables prosecutors to withhold basic
60
evidence until the actual day a trial begins. Even
worse, New York has the distinction of standing
alongside only three other states—Louisiana,
South Carolina, and Wyoming—as having the
nation’s most restrictive discovery rules.
o Under Governor Cuomo’s plan,
prosecutors and the defense will have
to share information in a multi-stage time
frame before a trial takes place. This will
include disclosure of evidence and
information favorable to the defense;
intended exhibits, expert opinion
evidence, witnesses’ criminal history
information, and search warrant
information will be made available to
defendants in a timely and consistent
manner. Doing so ensures attorneys have
the tools
necessary to adequately represent their
clients.
61
o Additionally, along with an accelerated
disclosure of witness information, this
plan will provide numerous special
procedures to ensure the safety of those
witnesses and the integrity of the judicial
process.
Speedy Trial Reform: The Sixth Amendment to
the United States Constitution and State law
guarantees all citizens accused of a crime have the
right to a speedy and public trial. Too often,
however, defendants are held in custody, pre-
trial, for excessive periods of time and courts are
overburdened with the number of pending
criminal cases. This leads to backlogs that disrupt
the justice system. The Governor will introduce
legislation to codify the waiver process, require
court reviews of statements of readiness, and
prevent undue delay by last-minute motion
practice. These reforms will ensure that accused
individuals proceed through the justice system in
62
a streamlined and efficient manner that does not
overburden them, financially and socially.
Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform: Civil asset
forfeiture is a mechanism by which state and
federal government can seize people’s property,
without having to convict them of a crime. One of
the core principles of America’s justice system is
that an individual is innocent until proven guilty.
Contrary to this principle, civil asset forfeiture, in
practice, allows an individual’s property to be
seized until the owner proves his or her
innocence. To correct this deviation from
Constitutional norms, the Governor will advance
legislation to ban all asset seizure unless an arrest
is made and require a criminal conviction before
property can be forfeited. Also, the Governor will
direct the Division of Criminal Justice Services to
require law enforcement agencies to report
demographic information of the individual from
whom a seizure is made, including gender, age,
race/ethnicity, and geographic location of the
63
seizure, to ensure this practice is being carried
out fairly and consistently.
Re-entry Proposals: Individuals with criminal
convictions continue to face significant economic
and social barriers to their successful
reintegration into society. New York must do
more to ensure those who have paid their debt to
society have the tools to be productive members
of society. First, the Governor will advance
legislation to remove mandatory suspensions of
driver’s licenses for people convicted of drug
crimes, which keeps people from going to work
and attending drug treatment, as long as the
crimes did not involve driving. Second, he
proposes to remove outdated statutory bans on
occupational licensing for professions outside of
law enforcement and instead require agencies to
assess applicants on an individualized basis.
Third, he will also safely expand opportunities for
release from prison for deserving individuals
through geriatric release consideration for people
64
over the age of 55 with debilitating conditions
exacerbated by age, by expanding the type and
variety of programming that will make people
eligible for merit release and limited credit time
allowances, and studying whether people eligible
for limited credit time allowances can safely take
part in educational and work release. Fourth, the
Governor will reduce the financial burdens of
individuals after their release to accelerate their
return to productivity, including removing the
parole supervision fee, and having local child
support enforcement offices review child support
orders of people incarcerated for over six months,
and, if warranted, adjust the orders downward so
that unpayable child support debt does not
accumulate during a person’s
incarceration. Without this crushing weight of
debt, a parent emerges from prison ready to start
working, and to start supporting his or her child
upon release. Lastly, the Governor will direct the
Council on Community Re-entry and Re-
65
integration, the Board of Parole, and the
Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision to undertake a comprehensive
review of parole revocation guidelines and
practices to determine appropriate alternatives
to incarceration for those who violate technical
parole conditions but pose no risk to public
safety. Thirty-three percent of individuals
released in 2012 were returned to prison within
three years due to technical parole violations.
New York jails and prisons should not be filled
with people who may have violated the
conditions of their parole, but present no danger
to our communities. This review will explore how
New York can better promote success for these
individuals.
Governor Cuomo is committed to continually
improving all aspects of New York’s criminal justice
system and ensuring New Yorkers are afforded the rights
guaranteed to them. These proposals will accomplish
66
these goals and place New York at the forefront of
progressive criminal justice practices for years to come.
67
support a continuum of effective prevention, diversion,
treatment, re-entry and supervision services at the state
and local level. This investment package will help
stem the pipeline of youth who are too often
unnecessarily and ineffectively involved in the juvenile
justice system. This funding will both prevent thousands
of youth from initial involvement in the justice system
and directly expand rehabilitative treatment for over
10,000 young people already involved in the system. By
building a comprehensive structure to assess and divert
youth away from costly confinement, New York will not
only be well-positioned to serve the new 16- and 17-
year-olds affected by the new legislation, but also
improve youth outcomes in education and employment,
reduce future crimes and victimization, and significantly
reduce the long-term system costs. In fact, similar
evidence-based, community-oriented alternatives to
detention have provided a return on investment of more
than four dollars for every dollar spent.10 Through these
major investments, New York will remain a national
leader in juvenile justice.
68
Proposal: Reduce New York’s Use of Solitary
Confinement
69
inmate in a SHU cell has decreased by nearly 25 percent
and the average length of a SHU sanction has decreased
by 21 percent.
The State intends to continue this massive
overhaul of the methods employed in correctional
facilities. The Governor will direct the Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision to close more
than 1,200 SHU beds throughout New York State’s
correctional facilities. This effort will continue the
Governor’s legacy of delivering a safer and smarter
correctional system that more effectively rehabilitates
incarcerated individuals.
70
throughout the rest of the state.12 Despite this progress,
there are still more than 20,000 New Yorkers currently
held in jails—often unsentenced, simply waiting for a
court appearance or trial. In fact, at the end of 2017,
more than 75 percent of individuals held in local
correctional facilities, including those in New York City
and the rest of the state, were unsentenced.13
To further reduce the number of people
needlessly incarcerated before their innocence or guilt
has been established, the Governor has proposed an
aggressive criminal justice reform package, including
bail, speedy trial, and discovery reform. These reforms
will lead to a smarter, safer justice system, but there
remains a critical need to address the urgent issues
within jails where conditions are deplorable and all-too-
often dangerous. While it is not the only problematic jail
in the state, New York City Department of Correction’s
Rikers Island exemplifies the failures of management,
facilities, and essential services, such medical care.
These conditions have led to significant incidents that
71
have been well-covered by the press, such as avoidable
deaths, violent assaults, and sexual abuses.
To address deficiencies in all local jails, the
Governor proposes an immediate enforcement strategy
from the State Commission of Correction. The
Commission—which is statutorily authorized to oversee
all correctional facilities—will undertake a
comprehensive review of facilities throughout New York
that have repeatedly and egregiously failed to meet well-
established standards of safety, security, and service.
This review will include an analysis of reportable
incidents, deaths in custody, and physical facility
conditions. Upon the Commission’s determination, local
jails with persistent, pervasive problems will be required
to create and adhere to a corrective action plan to either
improve their facilities—or close them in an expedited
manner—to ensure the safety for both staff and
incarcerated individuals. This work is critical to the
integrity of the justice system.
72
Proposal: Pass the Child Victims Act
74
pornography and as Attorney General he authored
legislation that resulted in the removal of more than
24,000 accounts and online profiles linked to registered
sex offenders.
Unfortunately, the scourge of sexual abuse online
remains a statewide threat. State law enforcement
officials are reporting a concerning growth in
sextortion–-the practice of disclosing or threatening to
disclose explicit images of an individual in order to
blackmail victims, usually to perform some type of sexual
act—that is often used by adults to prey on unsuspecting
children online. As internet use and the operation of
sexual predators online rapidly evolves, so too must the
law.
The New York State Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force has been immensely successful in
investigating and arresting predators online. However,
currently, when there is reason to believe an internet
service account or online identifier has been used in the
commission of certain specified sexual offenses, the State
Police must refer investigations either to a prosecutor’s
75
office for issuance of a grand jury subpoena or to a
federal agency that has administrative subpoena power.
This process is time-consuming, unwieldy, and yields
inconsistent and sometimes unacceptable results,
hindering law enforcement’s ability to respond
effectively to rapidly evolving Internet crimes targeting
a vulnerable population.
This year, Governor Cuomo will advance
legislation to overcome this procedural burden by
providing the Superintendent of the State Police with
administrative subpoena authority in these limited
instances. The nature of computer crime investigations
requires a rapid, efficient law enforcement response that
current state law does not support. By improving the
operational efficiency of law enforcement investigations,
we can better protect the children of New York before
they become victims.
76
Part 3. Launching a Comprehensive Plan to Attack
Homelessness
77
Despite the great strides taken and the
tremendous investment already made, homelessness
remains a challenge in New York. A recent report issued
by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development indicated that there were 88,352 homeless
people in the state on a single night in January. 14 This
represented 16 percent of all homeless people in the
entire U.S. on that night. In New York, we will not let up
in the fight to combat the root causes of homelessness
and ensure all New Yorkers have a safe place to live. To
address the continued needs in New York City and across
the state, Governor Cuomo will build on his historic
investments to improve homeless services and develop
supportive and affordable housing.
78
must have an effective outreach program to the street
homeless as a condition of receiving State funding for
homelessness services. He is also directing that the MTA,
the Port Authority, Centro, Capital District
Transportation Authority, the Rochester-Genesee
Regional Transportation Authority and the Niagara
Frontier Transit Authority do the same.
Outreach to street homelessness must be part of
an integrated strategy to combat homelessness. The
responsibility to plan for homeless related services today
is divided between local social services districts and
community-based, not-for-profit providers. In many
areas across the state, these separate planning activities
are not aligned and there are no existing requirements to
streamline services, incentivize data collection or allow
for a global view of the situation.
Governor Cuomo will direct the Office of
Temporary Disability Assistance to require social
services districts to engage in planning activities related
to street outreach, homelessness prevention activities,
rapid rehousing, and ongoing housing stability for the
79
formerly homeless. The State will require the social
services districts to engage with ongoing efforts, set
reasonable goals that are data-driven and uniquely
tailored to the needs of its communities, and to report
regularly on progress made. The State will provide
technical assistance throughout the planning process by
releasing guidance related to best practices and policies
that can facilitate success.
80
To strengthen shelter services for homeless
individuals living with mental illness in existing
homeless shelters, Governor Cuomo will direct the Office
of Mental Health and the Office of Temporary and
Disability Assistance to work together to ensure that
Assertive Community Treatment teams are connected to
existing shelters, so that individuals with mental illness
can access needed treatment.
In addition, the Office of Alcoholism and
Substance Abuse Services will make on-site peer-
delivered substance abuse treatment services available
in 14 existing shelters across the state. These on-site
services will serve close to 200 homeless individuals
with substance use disorder, with services provided in
shelters that are located in areas that have seen the
biggest increases in substance use.
81
Yorkers, who each contribute significantly to our state’s
economy, culture and social fabric.
Since taking office, the Governor has taken
aggressive steps to provide assistance to immigrant
communities. In 2011, he signed a wide-reaching
Executive Order to ensure language access across state
agencies, suspended the State’s participation in a federal
program that required local law enforcement to help
identify deportable individuals, signed legislation
holding entities that defraud immigrants accountable,
and established the Office for New Americans. He
launched NaturalizeNY, the first public-private
partnership of its kind to encourage and assist eligible
immigrants in New York State with becoming U.S.
citizens. And last year Governor Cuomo launched the
nation’s first public-private immigrant legal defense
initiative called the Liberty Defense Project in response
to the surge in demand for help that was overwhelming
nonprofit organizations serving immigrants.
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This year, Governor Cuomo will continue to stand
up for immigrants and uphold the values of the Lady in
our Harbor.
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Proposal: Continue the First-In-the-Nation Liberty
Defense Project to Provide Critical Legal
Representation to Immigrants
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the network of legal service providers providing these
critical service in defense of our immigrant communities.
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School of Commerce building to establish a “One World
Welcome and Opportunity Center” in the heart of
downtown Utica. This Impact Center will not only allow
the Center to expand their services to provide workforce
and vocational training to the Mohawk Valley’s entire
six-county region, but will also create shared work space
for partner organizations to create a “one-stop shop” for
individuals to access services. This award will improve
the delivery of services to refugees, enhance
coordination between organizations and help refugees
better integrate into the Mohawk Valley.
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way for the Supreme Court to make marriage equality
the law of the land in 2015, citing New York’s example.
The Governor has also taken action to prohibit
discrimination on the basis of gender identity,
transgender status, or gender dysphoria, and this year
Governor Cuomo will continue to raise the mantle of
progressive leadership.
New York State has always led the fight for all
people to be able to live freely and without
discrimination. In 1945, New York became the first state
in the nation to enact a Human Rights Law, prohibiting
discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed and
national origin in employment, housing, credit, places of
public accommodations, and nonsectarian educational
institutions. That landmark legislation has been
amended over the years to extend protections to families
and people with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation and military status.
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While Governor Cuomo has made unprecedented
gains in the fight for LGBTQ rights, from marriage
equality to first-in-the-nation protections based on
gender identity, there is still significant work to be done.
Civil rights for LGBTQ Americans are threatened at the
federal level, and discrimination and violence against
trans or gender nonconforming individuals is on the rise,
with the FBI reporting that in 2016, anti-transgender
incident reports rose 44 percent compared to the
previous year.17
In 2016, at Governor Cuomo’s direction the
Division of Human Rights adopted regulations banning
harassment and discrimination against transgender
individuals. We should take steps to codify these existing
regulations into statute. To that end, the Governor
proposes adding gender identity as a protected class
under the Human Rights Law. To provide protection for
transgender New Yorkers who are the victims of hate
and bias crimes, the Governor is also proposing
protecting gender identity and expression under New
York’s Hate Crime Law. These actions reflect New York
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values; the belief that every person should be treated
equally and fairly, protected from harm and empowered
with the opportunity to succeed.
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hate crimes are on the rise. According to the Center for
the Study of Hate & Extremism, at California State
University, hate crimes in nine U.S. metropolitan areas
rose more than 20 percent in 2016. 18 New York City
reported the greatest number of hate crimes at 380, a 24
percent increase from 2015.
Bigotry, hateful rhetoric and hate crimes have
found their way into schools and teachers have reported
an increase in harassment, intimidation and bullying,
especially toward vulnerable and marginalized students.
Tensions have risen in classrooms and students across
the country are experiencing high levels of anxiety and
fear. In addition to anti-bullying work taking place in
schools, the Governor will direct the Division of Human
Rights to work with the State Education Department to
develop a respect for diversity curriculum for students in
the 8th and 9th grade that can be used by any school in
the state.
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Part 6. Protecting the Rights of Workers
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Part 7. Serving Our Veterans
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By enacting the nation’s strongest legislation
against pension poaching, New York strives to eliminate
this predatory conduct. This law will implement new
disclosure requirements for businesses that advertise
their fee-based services of filing claims and appeals for
VA benefits, and will enable the prosecution of
businesses that violate these standards. In doing so, New
York will set a national benchmark for preventing the
men and women who served our country from becoming
victims of financial exploitation.
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sense of confusion about the Division’s designated role
and value for veterans and their families in New York.
The Division’s statewide outreach efforts have revealed
that many veterans decide not to visit the Division’s field
offices because they believe that the Division is
equivalent to the VA.
To avoid this confusion, the New York State
Division of Veterans’ Affairs will now become the New
York State Division of Veterans’ Services. This new name
accurately defines the constant mission of this agency—
serving veterans and their families the rest of the way—
and clearly distinguishes the Division from the federal
VA, avoiding any unnecessary mistakes and confusion
moving forward.
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leave prison and reduce overall rates of recidivism,
aiding our veterans and improving overall public safety.
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its new legal services initiatives, ensuring that free legal
services for veterans and their families will be provided
by faculty and students at these schools for many years
to come.
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2. EXPANDING
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
FOR ALL
Part 1. Prioritizing Early Education
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then, Governor Cuomo has expanded access to full-day
pre-kindergarten, and to date, more than 90 percent of
high-need school districts offer pre-kindergarten. In
2016, the Governor committed $10.4 million to 25 high-
need school districts to increase access to quality pre-
kindergarten for more than 1,500 three-year-old
students across New York.
Child care is an essential fact of life for working
single parents and two-earner families but it costs more
than rent on average in nearly half the country. 20 In New
York, where two-thirds of children under six have both
parents in the workforce, typical childcare for an infant
and four-year-old reaches nearly $26,000, surpassing
the cost of college.21 Governor Cuomo has taken
unprecedented action to ease this financial burden. In
2017—building on his middle class agenda—Governor
Cuomo created the Enhanced Middle Class Child Care
Tax Credit to reduce child care costs for more than
200,000 working families statewide. And under
Governor Cuomo, more than 97 percent of New York
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children have health coverage—the highest level in
history.
Advancing the progress of recent years, Governor
Cuomo will make critical investments to strengthen early
childhood programming and expand access to more New
Yorkers.
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State’s Department of Health (DOH) is uniquely
positioned to address the health needs of children and
families as well as the social determinants impacting
their health.26
In August of 2017, Governor Cuomo directed DOH
to create a First 1,000 Days on Medicaid working group
to identify and recommend ways to improve outcomes
and opportunities for young children and their families
through access to childhood health services and
expansion of other health and early childhood system
coordination and family supports. The working group,
co-chaired by former SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher
and State Education Department Commissioner Mary
Ellen Elia, intentionally adopted a cross-sector strategy
to include participation from more than 200 members
representing stakeholder interests from the health and
mental health, education, early childhood, and child and
family sectors. The working group developed a set of ten
recommendations that are evidence-based and
measurable to drive outcomes for young children and
their families through improving childhood health
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services, expanding programs that work, and investing in
family supports to focus on enhancing access to services
and improving outcomes for children during their first
1,000 days of life.
Based on the recommendations of the working
group, Governor Cuomo will begin implementation of the
comprehensive First 1,000 Days Plan to:
Develop a clear, standardized model of pediatric
primary care to ensure that growth and
development are on track and establish a uniform
measurement tool for providers and educators to
assess child development upon kindergarten
entry. Aligned with the American Academy of
Pediatrics’ standard of care, DOH, in collaboration
with a Preventative Pediatric Clinical Advisory
Group, will develop a framework model for
providers serving families with children ages zero
to three on how best to organize well-child visits,
which will include standards for the use of care
coordination and protocols, the selection and
timing of early childhood screening tools,
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incorporating trauma-informed care into
practice, developing systems to receive follow-up
after screening and referral to offsite programs,
and delivering culturally and linguistically
appropriate care.
Facilitate group-based models of prenatal care to
support pregnant women living in neighborhoods
with the poorest birth outcomes in the State,
including high incidence of preterm births and
low birth weights.
Enhance home visiting services in three high-risk
communities using a targeted approach to match
families to a home visiting program that best fits
their needs and eligibility.
Launch peer-family navigator services in non-
healthcare community settings, such as family
homeless shelters and drug treatment centers, to
facilitate effective warm handoffs from the
provider diagnosing the child to the treatment
provider allowing continuity of care in services
for at-risk families.
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Provide parents of young children with improved
access to evidence based parent-child therapy
models.
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year-old pre-kindergarten, the new expansion will focus
on including students in integrated or community-based
settings.
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impact on tax credits and deductions relating to child
care.
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will take unprecedented action to ensure our young
people can thrive.
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stories have reported the disgraceful practice of lunch
shaming, which is denying a child food or embarrassing
him or her due to inability to pay. 28
The issue of food insecurity is not only limited to
K-12 students. A recent national survey of college
students found that 48 percent experienced food
insecurity in the past 30 days.29 The data suggests that
hunger is more common among college students than the
U.S. population as a whole, in which 14 percent of
households experience food insecurity each year. 30
Governor Cuomo will launch a five-point plan to
eliminate barriers to school food and ensure no student
goes hungry:
Ban lunch shaming: Lunch shaming is a
disgraceful practice in some schools where
children are publicly humiliated in front of their
peers by adults for not having money for lunch. In
many cases, these students are forced to wear a
sticker or bracelet, or have their name called over
the loud speaker. In other cases, these students
are given alternative, lesser quality lunches, such
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as a cold cheese sandwich when other students
get hot lunches. Other national news reports have
reported children simply being denied food if
they cannot pay. The Governor will propose a law
that when passed, would immediately end the
practice of lunch shaming of any kind. First, it will
prohibit any public act to humiliate a student who
cannot afford lunch. Second, it will ban alternative
lunches and require students to receive the same
lunch as others starting in the 2018-19 school
year.
Expand breakfast “after the bell:” High-need
schools in New York are required to offer
breakfast, but current law allows flexibility when
it is offered. Therefore, many offer meals in only a
limited time frame, which may be before buses
arrive, making it inaccessible for many students.
In order to allow students to have breakfast and
to prevent them from going hungry during
morning classes, Governor Cuomo will propose
requiring schools with more than 70 percent of
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students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
to provide breakfast after the school day has
begun for the next school year. In successful
breakfast after the bell programs, schools can
either serve breakfast in the classroom, or offer
nutritious vending machine options to ensure
that students have access to breakfast as they
start their day. In the city of Newburgh, where
Breakfast After the Bell was implemented during
the 2015-16 school year, schools have seen their
breakfast participation rates increase by more
than 100 percent. To ease the transition, the state
will provide technical assistance and capital funds
for equipment such as coolers and vending
machines to support breakfast after the bell. An
estimated $7 million in capital funds will support
expanded breakfast for 1,400 schools.
Expand the Farm to School Program: The Farm
to School program was created to connect schools
with local farmers and offers technical assistance
and capacity in the school to source products
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locally to help schools provide students with
nutritious meals from food produced by local
farms. Previous rounds of funding for this
program have increased access to healthy, farm-
fresh food for 324,000 students. This funding can
be used for capital costs to support transporting
and storing locally produced food, and to hire
farm-to-school coordinators and trainings for
crops and food preparation. Governor Cuomo
proposes doubling the state's investment to add
$750,000 for a total of $1.5 million in Farm to
School projects. If passed, the program would
serve an estimated total of 18 projects and
328,000 additional students, bringing the
estimated total number of students served to
652,000.
Increase the Use of Farm-Fresh, Locally
Grown Foods at School: To incentivize school
districts to use more local farm-fresh products,
Governor Cuomo will propose an increase in the
reimbursement schools receive for lunches from
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the current 5.9 cents per meal to 25 cents per
meal for any district that purchases at least 30
percent ingredients from New York farms. This is
a win-win for students as well as New York's
local farms.
Require food pantries on all SUNY and CUNY
campuses: To ensure consistent healthy food
options are available to young adults on college
campuses, the Governor will require all SUNY and
CUNY schools to either provide physical food
pantries on campus, or enable students to receive
food through a separate arrangement that is
stigma-free. The Governor proposes a $1 million
state investment for schools to implement the
program. In 2009, fewer than 10 campus food
pantries existed at private and state colleges
nationwide, and as of 2017, more than 570
currently exist. Only about half of all SUNY and
CUNY campuses have food pantries currently in
place. If a campus offers students access to
quality, affordable food options through an
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arrangement with an outside food bank, delivery
and distribution must be included. New York
State would be the first state to require every
public campus to have a food pantry.
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funds. Beginning in the 2018-19 school year, school
districts are now required to include mental health as
part of the health curriculum. In addition, there are now
745 school-based mental health clinics licensed by New
York State Office of Mental Health to help students better
access services.
Despite this progress, student mental health
remains a challenge. In order to better support schools,
Governor Cuomo is proposing $250,000 to create
enhanced mental health support grants. Community
schools programs would be eligible to include mental
health activities in wrap-around services. Funds can also
be used to improve school climate, combat violence and
bullying, and support social-emotional learning.
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been committed to supporting, empowering and
celebrating teachers across the state.
There are more than 200,000 K-12 teachers in
New York State. Under the Governor’s leadership, New
York has modernized teacher preparation programs and
teacher licensing requirements and required 100 hours
of high quality professional development to prepare all
new teachers to succeed. In addition, the Governor has
taken targeted action to lift up our educators and ensure
that every student has an outstanding teacher in the
classroom. The Master Teacher program, for example,
was launched in 2013 to support highly effective STEM
teachers and develop a network of STEM teachers in
every region of the state. In 2016, the Governor created
the Empire State Excellence in Teaching Award to
recognize the outstanding educators who exemplify the
highest professional standards and work to inspire
students, instill a love of learning and ensure school is
exciting, motivating and challenging.
This year, Governor Cuomo will continue to invest
in our teachers and provide New York’s young people
120
with mentors who will shine a bright path forward for
our students.
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This year the Governor is proposing an additional
$1 million to create a new cohort of Master Teachers
serving exclusively in high-need school districts. High-
need school districts have higher than average rates of
teacher turnover so this funding will help recruit and
retain highly performing teachers in high poverty
districts, and well as create professional networks.
In addition, in order to support and retain new
teachers, the Master Teacher professional learning
networks will be encouraged to connect with teachers
from the Teacher Opportunity Corps—a program that
recruits historically underrepresented individuals to
become New York teachers—that are in the regional
area.
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out prevention strategy by the United States Department
of Education.
A study of more than 14,000 adolescents found
that youth with an adult mentor were twice as likely to
attend college as their peers.33 Yet only half of youth in
poverty report having an adult mentor. Research has
found that youth with mentors were less likely to break
the law or experience substance abuse.34 Mentors make
a difference in helping students of all backgrounds
succeed. A separate study found that girls that engaged
in a supportive mentoring relationship were four times
less likely to participate in bullying behaviors than girls
without mentors.35
Recognizing the importance of the role of a
supportive adult in a child's life, Governor Cuomo
relaunched the New York State Mentoring program in
2015. In 1984, at the request of her husband, Governor
Mario Cuomo, Mrs. Matilda Raffa Cuomo created and
implemented The New York State Mentoring Program,
the nation’s first statewide unique school based one-to-
one mentoring program to prevent school dropout.
123
Today, the New York State Mentoring program serves
1,766 students in 97 school-based sites across New York
State.
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Part 4. Expanding High Quality Education
Programming for All
125
ensure our young people are prepared for a 21st century
economy.
Schools are the center of community for the more
than 2.6 million K-12 students in New York public
schools. Other than hours spent sleeping, school aged
children spend more time in school than they spend
doing anything else. It is important that this time is spent
valuably, and that all students have access to interesting
and rigorous content, engaging opportunities and feel
that school is a safe and supportive place to learn and
grow. This year, Governor Cuomo will continue to
expand access to quality education programming and set
our young people on the path to success.
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$100 million to directly support safe and enriching
childcare for school-aged children.
Research shows that high quality after-school
programs have a $3 return on investment for every
dollar spent.36 Moreover, after-school programming
provides an invaluable alternative for homeless
students. On a single night in January 2016 there were
29,914 children under the age of 18 experiencing
homelessness37—for these students the after-school
hours can be a particularly dangerous and vulnerable
time.
In order to ensure that as many students as
possible have a safe and supportive place to go after
school, the State will launch an additional $10 million
round of Empire State After School Grants, with a focus
on high-need areas.
In addition, research has shown that after-school
programming can help keep students safe from violent
activities. A study of after-school programs in 12 high-
risk California communities found that, among
participating youth, vandalism and stealing dropped by
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two-thirds, violent acts and carrying a concealed weapon
fell by more than half, and arrests were cut in half.38 In
order to combat gang and violent activity, $2 million of
this expansion will be directed to schools and community
partners identified in at-risk areas. A new investment in
afterschool programs targeted to school districts with
high rates of childhood homelessness or few safe
afterschool options will help ensure that children have a
secure and productive place to be in the hours after
school ends.
129
their exam score, were more likely to graduate from
college in four years compared to non-AP students, even
when controlling for demographic factors and prior
academic achievement.42
Currently, too many students have their
opportunities limited because they cannot participate in
an Early College High School program, like P-TECH, due
to the school they attend. For those high schools that do
offer college courses or a P-TECH, those programs have
a very limited number of seats. To ensure that every
student in these schools has greater opportunity, the
Governor proposes a $9 million expansion of the highly
successful Early College High Schools program by
aligning new schools to in-demand industries such as
technology, sports management and finance to provide
opportunities for every student in the school to earn
some college credit or associate’s degrees, with skills and
enhanced experience to step into a job in the related-field
upon graduation. Funds will be allocated to create 15
new early college high schools in communities with low
graduation or college access rates. In order to receive
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funds, schools must partner with an institution of higher
education and a business to develop a plan that will
ensure students graduate with a minimum of some
college credit and have a degree or a path to completion
in two years or fewer.
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majority of New York public schools do not offer
computer science in the classroom. In addition, there is a
wide gender gap in the students studying computer
science. In 2015, New York had only 3,801 computer
science graduates; only 18 percent were female.45 Only
3,761 high school students in New York took the AP
Computer Science exam in 2016; only 25 percent were
female.46
Create the Smart Start Computer Science
Program: This year, Governor Cuomo will launch
New York’s largest state investment to expand
high-quality computer science education by
offering teacher support and resources in
computer science and technology, especially for
the youngest learners, starting as early as
kindergarten and creating a continuum through
8th grade. It is important to reach students at an
early age, as research has suggested that girls are
less likely to pursue STEM careers as adults, even
when equally mathematically talented; 47 many
boys of color fall behind early in their academic
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careers and, in many situations, never catch up.
The Governor proposes a commitment of $6
million a year for the Smart Start program that
will provide grants to schools for teacher
development in computer science and
engineering. All schools will be eligible but grants
will go to the highest need schools first. By
providing elementary school teachers support to
become in-house experts in computer science,
more students will be exposed to computer
science and engineering and will self-select into
it. Schools that receive an award will work with
their Regional Economic Development Councils
to tailor the program to regional businesses or
future employers’ needs.
Create model computer science standards: In
addition, the Governor will convene a working
group of educators and industry partners create
model computer science standards to be made
available to any school. By equipping our young
people with computer science skills at an early
133
age today, we will prepare them for the jobs of
tomorrow.
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least one AP course—some offering more than 20
courses.50 In addition, in schools with more limited
offerings, students are not able to access courses such as
AP Computer Science, STEM courses, or world languages.
In order to ensure that students across the State,
including the more remote, rural areas of New York State
as well as high poverty areas have access to advanced
coursework, and can afford the cost of the exam the
Governor will provide $2 million in new funds to expand
the low-income test fee fund for both AP and
International Baccalaureate test fees as well as provide
$500,000 in grants for technical assistance for school
districts wishing to start advanced courses that do not
currently offer any courses, or very limited advanced
course offerings.
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student safety. The updated laws required school
districts to designate a point of contact in case of
emergency, increase training requirements for faculty
and staff, and update safety drills to include a lock down
event.
The Governor will continue this leadership in
student safety to ensure that students are safe on their
way to and from school. In New York, approximately 2.3
million students ride school buses to and from school
every year, and out of concern for their safety it is illegal
to pass a stopped school bus. Yet on Operation Safe Stop
in April 2017, the one day in which law enforcement
targeted citations for passing a stopped school bus, over
1,000 people were ticketed.51 Extrapolated for 180 days
of school, someone passes a stopped school bus 180,000
times a year, endangering the safety of school children.
This year, Governor Cuomo will increase the fine
for passing a stopped school bus as a way to increase
student safety.
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Part 5. Expanding Access to Higher Education
138
facilitate new innovations through the SUNY and CUNY
2020 programs.
Building on these historic accomplishments,
Governor Cuomo will continue to fight to ensure all New
Yorkers can go to college and achieve their dreams.
139
In FY 2019, the Excelsior Scholarship will enter
year two of a three-year phase-in. Starting in the 2018-
19 academic year, the Excelsior Scholarship income
eligibility threshold will increase, allowing New Yorkers
with household incomes up to $110,000 to be eligible.
Students must be enrolled in college full-time and
complete 30 credits per year (including Summer and
Winter sessions) to receive the funding. The program has
built-in flexibility so that any student facing hardship can
pause and restart the program, and all recipients can
balance the 30 credit hour per year requirement
between semesters, taking fewer in one and more in
another. To continue this landmark program, the
Governor is proposing $118 million to support 27,000
students in the Excelsior Scholarship program.
141
Get On Your Feet Loan Repayment Program that will
cover the first two years of student loan payments for
New York State public and private college graduates with
incomes below $50,000.
To continue to address this challenge, the
Governor is proposing a series of new reforms to
alleviate the debt and burden of student loans. The
Governor will create a comprehensive plan that includes:
Create a Student Loan Ombudsman at the
Department of Financial Services: The
Ombudsman will be the student borrower's
advocate to help resolve student complaints,
mediate disputes and educate borrowers about
student loans. The Ombudsman will also offer
free financial counseling and assistance for those
in default. This will help ensure that New York
student borrowers are protected regardless of
any changes that are made to the federal
ombudsman program with the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau.
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Require colleges provide simple truth in
lending facts for students: The Governor
proposes requiring all colleges annually provide
students with the estimated amounts incurred for
student loans, including the amount of student
loans incurred to date; a range of the total payoff
amount including principal and interest; and the
monthly repayment amount that the student may
incur for the loan to date. This proposal expands
on the Governor's Financial Aid Award
Information Sheet that helps inform students of
the cost of going to college.
Increase consumer protection standards
throughout the student loan industry: The
Governor will advance sweeping protections for
students including ensuring that no student loan
servicers or debt consultants can mislead a
borrower or engage in any predatory act or
practice, misapply payments, provide credit
reporting agencies with inaccurate information,
or any other practices that may harm the
143
borrower. These protections will also include
banning upfront fees, requiring fair contracts and
clear and conspicuous disclosures to borrowers,
and providing penalties for failing to comply with
the law. Further, the proposal will require that
those companies servicing student loans must be
licensed by DFS and meet standards consistent
with the laws and regulations governing other
significant lending industries like mortgages.
Prohibit State agencies from suspending the
professional licenses of individuals behind or
in default on their student loans: The Governor
will propose a law expressly prohibiting the
suspension of professional licenses of individuals
behind or in default on their student loans.
Currently, there are 19 states that allow for the
suspension of a professional license for people
who are behind or in default on their student
loans, with one state allowing for the suspension
of an individual's driver's license. This practice
severely limits the ability of people to support
144
themselves and their families, and to ultimately
pay back their student loans, creating a further
financial death spiral. By expressly prohibiting
the practice, the Governor will ensure that
current and future New Yorkers are protected.
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3. NY WORKS
Part 1. Keeping New York Economically Competitive
148
as well as create new opportunities for charitable
contributions to support public programs.
As we launch this massive and complicated
review, we will engage tax experts, employers, and other
stakeholders in a thorough and collaborative process to
develop a plan that promotes fairness for New York’s
taxpayers and safeguards the competitiveness of New
York’s economy.
Despite promises to the contrary, the federal
government left in place the so-called "carried interest"
loophole. Using a multi-state approach, Governor Cuomo
will address this Wall Street giveaway.
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Under these new reforms, the rate will drop even
further this year, to 6.33 percent and 6.57 respectively.
They will continue to drop all the way to 5.5 percent and
6 percent, respectively, when the cuts are fully phased in
by 2025.
These new lower tax rates will save middle class
New Yorkers nearly $6.6 billion in just the first four
years, and annual savings are projected to reach $4.2
billion and benefit 6 million filers by 2025. As the new
rates phase in, they will be the state’s lowest middle class
tax rates in more than 70 years.
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New York State will take the next step forward to
provide local governments with new tools to put money
back in the pockets of middle-class families.
First, the state will provide $225 million in the FY
2019 budget to meet the match commitment of the
County Wide Shared Services Initiative.
Second, Governor Cuomo will make the state's
successful county-wide shared services panels
permanent in order to institutionalize savings initiatives.
The Governor proposes that state funding for local
government performance aid be conditional on the
continuation of shared services panels.
Third, Governor Cuomo will ease rules on the
creation of local healthcare consortia to reduce local
health insurance costs. One way to lower health
insurance costs is to pool local governments health plans
into healthcare consortia, but during the recent county-
wide shared services planning process local
governments raised concerns that there are regulatory
burdens, especially for smaller governments, that make
pooling health insurance among local government
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legally or financially prohibitive. Therefore, Governor
Cuomo is directing the New York State Department of
Financial Services to publish guidance and provide
technical assistance to local governments in order to
ease the process of creating health consortia, specifically
for smaller municipalities. The Governor has also
directed the Department of State and other agencies to
continue to work with local municipalities to examine
other legal and policy impediments to shared services by
municipalities, such as zoning and other functions, to be
considered this session.
Fourth, to help communities across the state take
advantage of Smart Street Lighting technology and its
taxpayer savings and energy efficiency benefits,
Governor Cuomo will launch a statewide Smart Street
Lighting program to convert 500,000 street lights to LED
technology by 2025. The New York Power Authority will
lead this interdisciplinary and interagency initiative with
the New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority, the Department of Public Service, the
Department of Environmental Conservation, the
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Department of State and other State agencies to offer a
one-stop-shop solution for municipalities to replace
inefficient streetlights with LEDs and provide technical
expertise on design, procurement and construction,
along with financing and guidance on Internet of Things
(IOT) devices that allow streetlights to function as part
of a Smart City. NYPA will also explore modifications to
existing street lighting utility tariffs in order to allow for
greater cost savings from lighting conversions. This
program has the potential to reduce energy consumption
annually across the state by 482 gigawatt hours, the
equivalent of 44,770 households, save taxpayers $87
million annually, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
improve the quality of light and safety of communities
across the state.
Finally, Governor Cuomo will continue the state's
local property tax relief program that will provide an
average reduction of $380 in local property taxes to 2.6
million homeowners this year alone.
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Part 2. Preparing the Workforce of Today &
Tomorrow
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and Governor Cuomo is committed to ensuring that New
Yorkers are equipped to fill them.56
Many of those jobs will require a college degree,
and that is why New York created the Excelsior
Scholarship, becoming the first state in the nation to
make free college a reality – because by 2024, nearly 3.5
million jobs in New York State will require an associate’s
degree or higher, which is roughly 420,000 more jobs
than in 2014.57 It’s also why Governor Cuomo
established the youth jobs tax credit and made historic
investments in SUNY and CUNY. And, in many cases
where a college degree isn’t necessary, highly specialized
job training—in advanced manufacturing, offshore wind
turbine installations and use of advanced health
technology—is needed to fill the jobs of today and
tomorrow. That is why over the past seven years,
Governor Cuomo has invested $300 million annually in
career and technical education training and more than
$265 million in job preparation and training programs
for youth, in addition to the $155 million Youth Jobs
Program and $47 million to create early college high
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schools — an innovative program where high school
students are trained in a specialty area, earn a free
degree/certification and are first in line for a job.
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participating employers, and in 2017, more than 26,000
young people were hired through this program. Between
2010 and 2016, minority unemployment decreased 8
percent, from 25 percent to 17 percent.
To build on the success of the Youth Jobs
Program, Governor Cuomo proposes to increase the
maximum credit available to certified New York
employers by 50 percent—raising the maximum tax
credit from $5,000 to $7,500 for certified youth
employed full-time and from $2,500 to $3,750 for those
employed part-time. In addition, to help participants
better-develop the skills needed to advance from an
entry-level position toward a chosen career, the
Governor will direct the Department of Labor to align
and connect employers and youth participating in the
Youth Jobs Program with regional workforce
development efforts of SUNY, CUNY and New York’s
BOCES. This alignment will leverage State workforce
investments and augment skills development that
employers are able to provide on-site with additional
workforce support in the classroom and online.
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Proposal: Invest in New York’s Workforce and Future
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Create new Office of Workforce Development,
headed by a Director of Workforce
Development, which will oversee all
workforce training programs for the state—
including the new CFA program: Currently,
there are dozens of programs available in various
agencies, but if we are to maximize our capacity
to meet the state’s workforce needs, the state
needs to better integrate this fragmented process.
The Office of Workforce Development will serve
as a focal point of accountability and coordination
for these programs, establishing standards for
program performance and ensuring alignment
with the economic development goals of the state
and the individual regions. The Director will serve
on the State Workforce Investment Board, the
Strategic Implementation Assessment Team
(which reviews proposals submitted by the 10
Regional Economic Development Councils), and
the Regional Community College Councils.
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Create a One-Stop Shop to help workers and
businesses navigate the State’s workforce
development programs: Currently, workers
seeking jobs in New York State do not have a
single, centralized resource to help them navigate
the support programs that the State has to offer.
Similarly, businesses lack a central point of access
to the wide range of services the State provides to
assist them in hiring employees. The Director of
Workforce Development will create and oversee
a One-Stop Shop for New York’s Workforce that
provides this information to workers and
businesses through a straightforward and useful
online portal.
Expand the State’s capacity for data driven
workforce development planning and map
New York’s innovation economy: Communities
across Upstate New York are seeing an economic
resurgence, thanks in large part to little known,
fast-growing innovation economies—from the
computer gaming industry in Albany and Troy to
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data and software companies in Central New
York’s drone corridor to startups coming out of
RIT and RPI. Unfortunately, we don’t currently
have the data to map the workforce needs of New
York’s economy effectively. Monroe County
Community College currently utilizes an
innovative data mining methodology to identify
local workforce needs with more precision than
BLS and Census data. The Director of Workforce
Development will lead an initiative to take this
methodology to scale, ensuring that all regions
have access to the data needed to develop sector-
based workforce development plans. This
information will allow New York to better target
its workforce investments and better attract top
talent and top companies to the communities that
need it most.
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Proposal: Develop the Next Generation of Nonprofit
Leaders
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through the NYSHIP Empire Plan to make nonprofit
employment more appealing. Governor Cuomo will also
create the Nonprofit Educational Assistance Initiative to
improve access to educational assistance and promote
career advancement scholarships for nonprofit
employees. In addition, New York State will make
business services available to nonprofits and develop
strong pipelines to recruit recent graduates, retirees,
immigrants and veterans to work in the human services
sector. Finally, in conjunction with SUNY and CUNY, New
York State will host a human services workforce summit
to highlight best practices in recruitment and retention
and create a Nonprofit Workforce Development Steering
Committee to work with the director of the new
Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation to identify
strategies to improve workforce development in the
nonprofit sector.
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Proposal: Expand the Murphy Institute for Worker
Education and Labor Studies into the CUNY School of
Labor and Urban Studies
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education programs in three general categories,
including labor, urban studies, and worker
education/workforce development.
Recognizing the invaluable role that the Institute
plays in the CUNY community and as a center for labor
discourse, Governor Cuomo proposes expanding the
institute into the CUNY School of Labor and Urban
Studies.
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With Regional Economic Development Councils,
economic development plans are now regionally-based
and performance driven, putting an end to the Albany-
led, one-size-fits-all approach of the past. Since the
beginning of the Governor’s administration, New York
has added over 1,004,300 private sector jobs and New
York now has more than 8 million private sector jobs,
more than at any point in state history. Governor Cuomo
has also fought for economic justice, securing New York’s
groundbreaking $15 minimum wage and enacting
critical protections for New York’s workers. Today, New
York State remains the global beacon of economic
opportunity.
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their region. The State has invested more than $5.4
billion through the REDCs that has funded more than
6,300 projects and supports more than 220,000 jobs
across the state. To build on the success of the REDC
program, the Governor proposes continuing this regional
economic development approach with an eighth round
of the REDC awards with $750 million to fund regional
priority projects.
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improvements to the quality of life and attractiveness of
New York for residents and tourists alike.
Governor Cuomo is committed to building on this
progress. Many communities across the state still face
mounting needs to invest in their downtowns. More than
100 communities in all ten regions of the state competed
for the first 20 DRI awards. Each of these represents an
opportunity to transform a struggling downtown into a
thriving community that can become a local and regional
economic engine for growth.
To give communities the tools they need to select
and fuel targeted revitalization strategies, and build on
the Governor’s proven track record in energizing the
state economy, New York State will expand its already-
successful Downtown Revitalization Initiative with an
additional $100 million, providing up to $10 million for
awards in each region. Together, these investments will
ensure that communities have the tools they need to
boost their local economies and transform downtown
neighborhoods.
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Proposal: Drive New York’s Drone Economy Forward
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Proposal: Become the National Leader in Industrial
Hemp Production
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research, resulting in the planting of approximately
2,000 acres of the crop.
Despite growing production values, the U.S. still
relies heavily on imported hemp plants and seeds, which
are expensive and often poorly adapted for New York’s
agricultural environment. To avoid long-term
dependence on seed from other states and countries, the
State must begin to produce its own unique seed to drive
New York’s industrial hemp industry forward.
To establish New York as the leader of this
emerging industry, Governor Cuomo will put forward a
comprehensive package to support the industrial hemp
industry at every stage of the production process. First,
New York State will invest $650,000 in a brand-new $3.2
million industrial hemp processing facility in the Greater
Binghamton area. Second, the State will help import
thousands of pounds of industrial hemp seed into New
York, ensuring that farmers have access to a high-quality
product and easing the administrative burden on
farmers seeking to secure this substance. Third, New
York State will invest $2 million in a seed certification
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and breeding program in New York to begin to produce
unique New York seed. Finally, New York will host an
Industrial Hemp Research Forum in February to bring
together researchers and academics with business and
processors to develop ways to further boost industry
research in the Southern Tier and across New York State.
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for regional New York foods. The Governor’s summits on
dairy, yogurt, craft beverages, and industrial hemp have
also led to increased entrepreneurialism, removed
regulatory obstacles, and grown markets and sales. But
there is still significant room to expand the state’s
agriculture industry as a driver of economic growth:
While New York ranks in the top 10 for the number of
agricultural commodities it grows and sells, it ranks only
26th in the value of agricultural sales.
Governor Cuomo will launch phase two of the
New York State Grown & Certified program, expanding
the number of producers and commodities in the
program as we develop a concentrated consumer
advertising program to build awareness and preference
for New York State agricultural products. In addition,
Governor Cuomo will host two new summits focused on
forestry and wood products and Concord grapes to bring
stakeholders together to identify challenges and develop
solutions that will unlock the economic potential of these
commodities.
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Proposal: Promote New York Agriculture Through
Taste NY and New Marketing
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these promotional initiatives, Governor Cuomo will
make a series of targeted investments to increase
awareness and trust in the quality of New York food
across the state and nation. Governor Cuomo will:
Transform the Taste NY website into a one-stop
resource for residents, visitors, and business-to-
business connections. Travelers will be able to
easily locate local foods, breweries, wineries,
farms, and cuisine trails near them. Businesses
such as stores, caterers, and event planners will
be able to connect with these companies and
purchase their New York made products.
Identify and highlight ten core Taste NY
products—one from each Regional Economic
Development Council region—throughout the
State. These core products will be consistently
identified and displayed at Welcome Centers
across the State, which will build Taste NY brand
awareness and consistency, as well as pique
customer interest in discovering products from
each region. By expanding marketing efforts to
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highlight New York agriculture products and
strengthening the Taste NY program, the State
will help take New York agriculture to a new level.
Build a Taste NY presence into new infrastructure
projects, beginning with airports and train
stations. State agencies completing or directing
the completion of public infrastructure projects
will consult with the Department of Agriculture
and Markets to determine the suitability of a
Taste NY presence.
Host at least five regional Business-to-Business
Taste NY Networking Events to support
marketing opportunities for New York farms and
food and beverage businesses. These events will
introduce local New York vendors to buyers from
institutions, retail locations, restaurants, bars,
distributors, and other businesses in search of
expanding their local offerings. Events will
include sections to highlight New York State
Grown & Certified participants, creating a one-
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stop shop event for distributors and retailers
carrying fresh and processed products.
181
Proposal: Create the Photonics-Related Businesses
Attraction Fund
182
growth of the photonics cluster economy. New York
State will dedicate a $30 million Photonics Attraction
Fund through the Finger Lakes Regional Economic
Development Council specifically to attract integrated
photonics companies to set up their manufacturing
operations in the greater Rochester area. Thanks to the
world renowned AIM Photonics consortium, the Finger
Lakes is already a leader in photonics research and
development. The additional State funding will leverage
this unique asset to bring the businesses and the jobs of
tomorrow to the Finger Lakes region.
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off: unemployment has fallen from 7.4 percent when
Governor Cuomo took office to 4.7 percent today.
There are still significant opportunities to
leverage Long Island’s unique assets and drive economic
growth. Recognizing the tremendous opportunity to
redevelop the underutilized space around the iconic
Belmont Park, Empire State Development (ESD) issued a
Request for Proposals to develop two surface parking
lots that are only filled once a year for the Belmont
Stakes.
The winning proposal transforms Belmont Park
from a seasonal horse racing track to a year-round,
internationally recognized destination for sports,
entertainment, recreation, retail and hospitality—and
the new home of the New York Islanders. The
comprehensive $1 billion plan includes an 18,000-seat,
year-round arena that will host the Islanders as well as a
new 435,000-square-foot retail and entertainment
complex, a new hotel, and other community amenities.
The transformational plan will strengthen the local
economy, boost tourism, increase visitor spending and
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stimulate local businesses. To accommodate New
Yorkers and visitors traveling to the brand-new facility,
the Long Island Railroad is also committed to developing
a plan to expand LIRR service to Belmont Park Station for
events year-round.
185
program, the most aggressive and ambitious building
program in the nation, New York is once again building
for the future.
We are building new airports to serve as the 21st
century gateways that this state deserves. Our roads and
bridges, the arteries that connect our state, are being
rebuilt with a record investment. And we are moving
forward with bold projects all across the state: a new
Moynihan Train Hall that will be the world class transit
hub that New York deserves; 1.2 million square foot
expansion of the Javits Convention Center; a new
Kosciuszko Bridge, the first major new bridge in New
York City in more than 50 years; new train stations in
Rochester and Schenectady; a $6.6 billion
transformation of the LIRR; a record MTA Capital Plan.
And we are doing it with the dedicated men and
women of organized labor. In New York, we build with
union labor because we believe in the talent and capacity
of union labor, and we believe in supporting the good,
high paying jobs of the middle class—the same middle
class that labor created in the first place.
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The economic benefits of our investments reach
far beyond the jobs created on the construction site; they
touch entire communities where constructions workers
live and shop, breathing new life into communities
across the state. They have a ripple effect that can
jumpstart economic growth across the state.
Today New York is daring to imagine a better New
York, and we know it is possible. In August 2017, we
opened the first span of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo
Bridge to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge after 20
years of talk. It is a beautiful, iconic new bridge, and it
boldly proclaims that the New York blood still runs in our
veins.
Building is what made New York, New York, and
it's going to continue making New York the leader that it
is. This year, we are doubling down on our commitment
to build for the 21st century.
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Proposal: Launch New NY Broadband Program
Round III Awards to Achieve Governor Cuomo’s Goal
of “Broadband for All”
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Yorkers, connecting approximately 120,000 locations.
Round III is expected to catalyze more than $360 million
in total investment, including $225 million in State
funding. Round III projects that address eligible
locations will also have access to matching funds in
federal Connect America Fund support through the
State’s unique partnership with the Federal
Communications Commission. After Round III, it is
anticipated that 99.9 percent of New Yorkers will have
commitments for high-speed broadband access, with all
but 1 percent having access to 100 mbps service or
better.
189
emissions. The Governor championed the
implementation of cashless tolling at the MTA Bridges
and Tunnels, which was completed in 2017, and he also
announced in 2017 the expansion of cashless tolling to
the New York State Thruway’s Harriman and Grand
Island toll facilities. To date, drivers have saved 2.1
million hours as a result of cashless tolling
implementation on MTA crossings. Cashless tolling is not
only faster for the commuter and better for the
environment, but also more secure. The new electronic
toll structures are designed with state-of-the-art
homeland security devices and license plate readers that
notify police are on site of a violation or suspicious
vehicle.
The positive public feedback has prompted
stakeholders to request cashless tolling be expanded
across the Thruway. With more motorists using the
Thruway system than ever before, cashless tolling
represents a critical step in minimizing traffic
disruptions and reducing congestion. The 2018 Thruway
budget forecasts total traffic of 269.7 million vehicles,
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reflecting growth of 2.8 million vehicles or 1.1 percent
above revised 2017 levels. Currently, these vehicles must
come to a complete stop or reduce their speed to 5 – 20
mph at toll collection plazas, all while in close proximity
to other vehicles. This creates an environment ripe for
crashes and delays.
To expand these benefits across the state,
Governor Cuomo plans to implement cashless tolling
technology on all toll collection points along the New
York State Thruway. Additionally, the Governor has also
urged the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
(PANYNJ) to study the possibility of installing cashless
toll collection on all PANYNJ operated Bridges and
Tunnels. When complete, users of the Thruway, from
New York City to Buffalo, will experience reductions in
traffic congestion and improvements in travel times. The
project will utilize Design-Build construction to reduce
costs and accelerate the construction schedule. Cashless
tolling throughout the Thruway system will be
operational in 2020.
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Proposal: Modernize the New York State Thruway
Service Areas Through a Public- Private Partnership
192
in dire need of improvements to customer amenities,
technology, commercial truck services and overall
facility energy efficiency.
Governor Cuomo proposes issuing a Request for
Expressions of Interest (RFEI) in the spring of 2018 to
reimagine and modernize Thruway service areas
through a public-private partnership, to be followed by a
Request for Proposals (RFP) later in the year. To ensure
the service areas offer all modern conveniences
while reducing their environmental impact, Governor
Cuomo proposes to make the service areas Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
certified, install solar arrays and irrigation free
landscaping, increase truck parking and commercial
services, expand and enhance customer-friendly
offerings, and modernize the entire service area, farm
stands and tourism centers, thereby better serving all
motorists now and well into the future.
193
Proposal: Promote the Integration of Autonomous
Vehicles in New York State
195
of the North Country, with seasons that range from
steamy summer days to the coldest snowy winters, New
York offers a wide variety of conditions necessary for the
rapid advancement of autonomous vehicle technology.
To ensure New York State remains a home for
emerging technology and becomes a destination for
autonomous vehicles, Governor Cuomo will champion
legislation that will extend the current program and
modify the statutory construct to further encourage
testing within the state and prepare New York for the
future integration of this technology into everyday life.
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In 2018, New York State will continue this
landmark infrastructure program, investing $11.7 billion
to transform the State’s transportation infrastructure.
The State Department of Transportation will pave 2,000
miles of road and repair or rehabilitate 500 bridges, and
the New York State Thruway Authority will renew an
additional 170 lane miles, repair or rehabilitate 25
bridges, and complete the historic new Governor Mario
M. Cuomo bridge in 2018.
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potential extension of subway service from lower
Manhattan to a new station in Red Hook through an
underwater tunnel. Once a plan for how to modernize
and potentially consolidate maritime activities becomes
clear and the MTA study is completed, a community-
based planning process with key participation by elected
representatives and interested stakeholders would be
expected to recommend the appropriate redevelopment
alternatives for any Port Authority land no longer
needed for maritime needs.
199
in size by nearly tenfold. Today Woodbury Common
attracts roughly 13 million visitors a year and generates
$1.3 billion in gross sales.62 The increase in visitors has
led to significant congestion, and yet there is no rail
option to provide visitors an alternative to driving. By
spearheading the accelerated transformation of the
Route 32 corridor at Woodbury Common, Governor
Cuomo has already taken action to ease congestion in the
area. Building on this effort, Governor Cuomo will
support a review of the potential for a public private
partnership with Simon Properties to bring a new Metro-
North station to Woodbury Common. New rail access to
Woodbury Common will ease traffic congestion and also
serve anticipated increases in rail ridership demand
from the Legoland and Empire Resorts casino
developments.
200
competitive in today’s global economy. Under the
Governor’s leadership, New York has made
unprecedented investments to transform airports across
the state into the world-class airports worthy of the
Empire State, from building an entirely new LaGuardia
Airport and embarking on the redevelopment of JFK in
New York City, to launching the Upstate Airport
Economic Development and Revitalization Competition
to reimagine our Upstate airports.
Stewart Airport, in Orange County, has long had
unfulfilled potential to grow flight activity, passenger
volume, and catalyze economic development and
tourism in the Mid-Hudson Valley region, while also
providing an attractive airport alternative for the metro
NYC area. With the recent commencement of regularly
scheduled trans-Atlantic international flights from
Norwegian Airlines, a major discount international
carrier, passenger volume is beginning to dramatically
grow. International flight activity in turn is catalyzing
increased interest in expanding domestic flights by
domestic airlines to support connecting flights.
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To prepare the airport for 21st century growth,
Governor Cuomo will advance enhancements and
initiatives to unlock the full potential of the facility:
Build a new permanent U.S. Customs and
Border Protection Federal Inspection Station:
The airport currently employs a temporary
federal inspection station (FIS) that involves
putting moveable walls in place when
international passengers are arriving. The
temporary FIS restricts the ability to handle
domestic flights when it is in place. Governor
Cuomo proposes a $27 million investment by the
Port Authority to build a modern FIS that meets
that enables Stewart Airport to meet the needs of
and continue to grow international passenger
service and allows for concurrent domestic and
international flight arrivals. The $27 million
project will expand the existing terminal by
20,000 square feet and is targeted to be
completed in 2021.
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Change the name of the airport from Stewart
Airport to New York International at Stewart
Field: The current name does not communicate
to travelers and visitors booking flights to the
region a geographic sense of place. Changing the
name to New York International at Stewart Field
will help with attracting additional flight service
to the region, while preserving the heritage of the
Stewart family name in the region.
Rebrand the airport bus service to New York
City into a New York State-themed Stewart
Express: With the start of Norwegian Airlines
service to and from Stewart, the Port Authority
arranged for a private bus carrier, CoachUSA, to
provide express service from the airport to and
from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown
Manhattan on a schedule corresponding with
Norwegian Airlines’ flights. CoachUSA has called
the service the ‘Stewart Express’ – offering 80-
minute travel times between New York City and
the airport. The express bus service will be re-
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launched and rebranded with New York State-
themed colors to help support the marketing
efforts for the airport overall, and tourism in the
region.
Advance sustainability and environmental
goals through a solar PV Project at the airport:
The Port Authority will launch an RFP to create a
solar “carport” photovoltaic system at the airport.
The solar installation will be constructed over
sections of the parking lot outside the main
terminal building utilizing overhead canopies
supporting arrays of solar panels. The project,
which will be privately financed on a long-term
power purchase agreement, could generate 1,100
kW and produce most of the electricity used by
the main terminal on an annual basis, in addition
to facilitating electric vehicle charging stations for
the expected growth in electric vehicles.
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Proposal: Build the AirTrain to Create Train-to-Plane
Access to LaGuardia Airport
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of an AirTrain connection between LaGuardia and
Willets Point in Queens, creating access to both the
number 7 subway train and the Long Island Rail Road,
which offer service to Grand Central, Penn Station and all
of Long Island. The project is expected to be developed
through a public-private partnership, leveraging
significant private capital and providing access to
midtown Manhattan in under 30 minutes. The Port
Authority should begin the environmental review
process as soon as possible with the goal of starting
construction in 2019.
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shipping times and lower costs for businesses and
consumers throughout the region.
The state’s roadways, however, remain among
the most heavily utilized in the nation, and the resulting
congestion adds significantly to the cost of moving
freight while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. To
facilitate the economical movement of freight by
waterways and rail, Governor Cuomo has invested
hundreds of millions to renew and modernize the State’s
rail hub and port infrastructure.
Building upon Governor Cuomo’s unparalleled
investment in modernizing our infrastructure, New York
will construct an inland port in the Town of DeWitt that
will facilitate the movement of containerized freight by
rail as opposed to truck. This strategic initiative will
improve the economic competitiveness of import/export
businesses in the Central New York region while
leveraging the privately-funded rail infrastructure
serving the region. The inland port will serve to reduce
the transportation costs of moving containerized freight
between the Port of New York and New Jersey and the
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Central New York region by as much as $500 per
container; retain and create freight-related jobs; reduce
vehicle emissions; and remove large trucks from both the
New York metropolitan area and from Interstate 81.
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technically feasible and could be studied in the
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The current EIS for this project includes the
viaduct replacement and community grid alternatives
but does not include a tunnel alternative. The addition of
a tunnel alternative for the I-81 Viaduct Project would
provide an opportunity to fully evaluate and allow public
comments on all three alternatives as this critical project
progresses through the state and federal environmental
review and approval process.
Governor Cuomo is now directing DOT to add the
tunnel alternative to the current EIS for further review
and consideration, which will ensure public and advisory
agencies can provide comments on all three feasible
alternatives—the viaduct replacement, community grid,
and tunnel alternative—and the detailed engineering,
social, economic and environmental studies performed
for each. The final stage of this review will proceed
according to federal and state regulations and will occur
after the formal public hearing and analysis of all
comments received on the public distribution of the
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Draft EIS. Final alternative selection will be published in
the project’s Final EIS and Record of Decision.
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Part 5. Fueling Clean Energy Jobs
211
The Governor also supported the creation of a 10-
year, $5 billion Clean Energy Fund designed to leverage
private sector investment, fuel clean energy markets,
and deliver energy savings across the State. The Fund is
expected to save New Yorkers $39 billion in energy costs
over the next 10 years while dramatically reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
The Clean Energy Fund supports New York State’s
$1 billion commitment to solar power through the NY-
Sun program, which has led to an explosion of solar
growth across the State. Since the Governor took office in
2011, growth in solar power has exceeded 800 percent,
growing at more than twice the national average. Today,
thousands of New Yorkers are employed in the solar
industry, and solar energy provides enough power for
more than 150,000 New York State households. The
Clean Energy Fund also supports the NY Green Bank,
which has driven total investments of up to $1.59 billion
in New York State clean energy projects.
Governor Cuomo has also made the development
of New York’s robust offshore wind resource a central
212
priority. The Governor called for the most
comprehensive offshore wind master plan ever
conducted in 2016, and in 2017 set a 2.4 gigawatt goal
for offshore wind deployment – the most ambitious in
the nation and enough to power 1.2 million New York
households. These steps will ensure that New York is
home to the thousands of offshore wind careers created
in the United States as this new industry matures.
Governor Cuomo’s bold initiatives are helping
drive clean energy job growth at nearly double the
overall job growth average in New York, and the clean
energy sector now employs more workers than the
thriving biotech and agriculture industries combined. As
New York advances toward its ambitious clean energy
goals, the Governor will work to ensure growth
continues to surge.
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Proposal: Increase Transmission of Clean and
Renewable Energy by Investing $200 Million to Meet
Unprecedented Energy Storage Target of 1,500
Megawatts by 2025
215
storage into criteria for large scale renewable
procurements, and, to reduce regulatory barriers.
The Governor is also announcing a commitment
of at least $200 million from the NY Green Bank for
storage-related investments to help drive down costs
and to strategically deploy energy storage to where the
grid needs it most. Finally, the Governor is directing
NYSERDA to invest at least $60 million through storage
pilots and activities to reduce barriers to deploying
energy storage (e.g., permitting, customer acquisition,
interconnection, financing costs). In addition to utility
procurements and regulatory changes, these
investments will be critical to jumpstart the market and
support robust and cost-effective project development
on the way to achieving the 1,500 megawatt goal.
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York Power Authority (NYPA) is at the forefront of that
transformation with new digital technologies, programs
and processes to build a power system that meets the
needs of the 21st century sustainable, energy-driven
economy. NYPA has already started its journey into this
transformation through activities like the Life Extension
and Modernization programs as well as several
innovative research and development projects for
piloting new energy monitoring technologies. Given the
success of these initial projects, a more comprehensive
and coordinated approach is needed to fully harness the
potential of digitizing the energy system.
To harness the full benefits of digital technologies
and maximize efficiency, Governor Cuomo is directing
NYPA to transform its operations and electric grid
infrastructure to become the first all-digital utility. This
wholescale redesign will deploy new technologies to
perform online monitoring of plants, sub-stations and
power lines to increase plant efficiency and productivity,
which will reduce unplanned downtime, lower
maintenance costs and minimize operational risks. In
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addition, by leveraging new digital technologies to
optimize its processes and activities across the
enterprise and become more streamlined in its
operations, NYPA’s facilities will function with more
resiliency and improved efficiency, which will control
costs and benefit customers. With a digital power system
that is cleaner, affordable and more resilient, NYPA will
help meet the Governor’s Clean Energy Standard and
goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent
by 2030.
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In addition, Governor Cuomo is directing the New
York State Energy Research and Development Authority
to invest $15 million in clean energy workforce
development and infrastructure advancement to train
workers for high quality, well-paying jobs in this
industry, including offshore wind construction,
installation, operation, maintenance, design and
associated infrastructure. To attract private investment
in port infrastructure and supply chain activities,
Governor Cuomo is also directing NYSERDA to work with
Empire State Development and other State agencies to
determine the most promising public and private
offshore wind port infrastructure investments. These
new actions will jumpstart project development, drive
the growth of new, quality well-paying jobs and clean
energy careers, and secure New York’s status as the
undisputed home for the emerging offshore wind
industry in the U.S.
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Proposal: Divest the New York Common Fund from
Fossil Fuel Investments
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in fossil fuels. In 2017, the Common Fund listed holdings
in more than 50 oil and gas companies that have been
identified as among the 100 most carbon-intensive in the
world, a figure that has increased since 2016. With
billions of public employee dollars invested in the fossil
fuel industry, and nearly $1 billion invested in
ExxonMobil alone, the Common Fund holds increasingly
risky financial investments for New Yorkers, particularly
as both New York State and the world back away from
the use of fossil fuel as a primary energy source. For
example, the World Bank recently announced that it will
end financial support for oil and gas exploration within
the next two years, an announcement that itself comes on
the heels of recent action by the Norwegian sovereign
wealth fund, the largest fund in the world, to move away
from fossil fuel investments.
It is time for the Common Fund to lead on these
issues and adopt a serious and responsible plan for
divesting from fossil fuels that still recognizes the
complexity of the Fund and its need to provide
retirement benefits. Accordingly, the Governor is calling
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on the fund to divest from significant fossil fuel
investments. The Governor is calling for the fund to cease
all new investments in entities with significant fossil
fuel-related activities. In addition, Governor Cuomo will
work with the Office of the Comptroller to create an
advisory committee of financial, economic, scientific,
business and workforce representatives as a resource for
the Common Retirement Fund to develop a de-
carbonization roadmap to invest in opportunities to
combat climate change and support the clean tech
economy while assessing financial risks and protecting
the Fund.
This proposed approach helps to address the
complexity of the Common Fund's portfolio while
providing a clear roadmap for de-carbonization.
Adopting this approach will send a strong message to the
financial markets that major investors, including New
York State, are fully and aggressively committed to a
carbon-free, clean energy future. Finally, the Governor
calls on the Fund to dedicate a meaningful portion of the
Fund's portfolio to investments that directly promote
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clean energy—which makes economic and
environmental sense.
The Common Fund must take decisive and
meaningful action to further de-carbonize, and this plan
puts in place a concrete roadmap that provides for de-
carbonization of the portfolio while maintaining the
fiscal stability of the Fund.
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Establish clean fuel corridors: State-designated
Clean Fuel Corridors will prioritize the
installation of charging stations at strategic
locations along the State’s highways based on
distance and accessibility. By 2020, a ZEV
traveling anywhere on New York’s interstate
system will be able to recharge at a location
convenient to the driver. In addition, the State
will create an official designation for ZEV-ready
businesses and communities.
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In fact, New York State's tourism industry set new
records for total number of visitors, economic impact
and direct spending in 2016. A record 239 million
visitors traveled to New York State, generating an
economic impact of $104.8 billion – exceeding $100
billion for the third straight year. In addition, visitors
generated an all-time high $64.8 billion in direct
spending. These figures each represent a nearly three
percent increase over 2015, supported by the Governor's
unprecedented investments in the state’s booming
tourism industry. This year, Governor Cuomo will
continue the upward trajectory of this critical driver of
economic growth.
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the historic New York State Fairgrounds into a world-
class, multi-use entertainment facility. The multi-phased
approach expanded the Fair by 60 acres, added a
beautiful new Main Gate, an RV park that supports both
the Fair and its year-round facilities rental business, and
large, open spaces that allow for expanded Fair
programming and larger events on the grounds year-
round. The State is also investing to significantly improve
parking and highway access.
As a result of these improvements, the State Fair
had record-breaking attendance in each of the last two
years, including an all-time annual attendance record of
1,161,912 people who came to the Fair over its 13-day
run in 2017. This year’s Fair attendees also gave the
highest levels of satisfaction ratings ever recorded. As
crowds increase during the fair, more activities are also
being booked off-season.
This year, the State will complete a new 136,000-
square-foot Expo Center announced in 2017 by Governor
Cuomo. The new building will provide year-round
economic growth to the region and be the largest
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exhibition facility north of New York City between
Boston and Cleveland. The Expo Center, with 110,000
square-feet of flexible event space and 4,000 retractable
seats, will attract major agricultural shows and special
events, including car shows, consumer and trade shows,
and equestrian events that could not have come to the
region previously because of a lack of suitable space. It
will join the Fairgrounds' existing portfolio of event
space, such as the Toyota Coliseum and the Center of
Progress Building, increasing the amount of available
indoor space on the grounds to more than 450,000
square-feet.
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percent increase over 2015 and a 21 percent increase
since the Governor took office in 2011.
As part of these efforts, the Governor has been a
strong supporter of the Hudson River SkyWalk project, a
1.8-mile scenic pedestrian trail that crosses the Hudson
River linking the Olana State Historic Site in the Town of
Greenport to the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in
the Village of Catskill. In 2017, the state supported phase
2 of this project, replacing the sidewalk and railing and
adding 3 scenic viewpoints on the Rip Van Winkle bridge,
as well as providing funding for a sidewalk connecting
the SkyWalk to the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in
Greene County. This project is to be completed in 2018.
As part of the third phase of the Hudson River
SkyWalk project, the State will reconstruct the current
intersection of Route 23 and Route 9G in Columbia
County into a pedestrian and bicycle friendly roundabout
with a direct connection to Olana State Historic
Site. Further, the state’s Empire State Trail, which is
currently under construction, will provide pedestrian
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and bicycle friendly travel north from Olana and the Rip
Van Winkle Bridge directly into the City of Hudson.
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operates the three state-owned ski resorts and Olympic
venues in Lake Placid, still faces the challenge of aging
infrastructure, outdated technology, and out-of-state
competition that is investing heavily to attract future
generations. New York must continue updating its
venues with a long-range strategic plan.
To continue the momentum and drive economic
growth, Governor Cuomo proposes to invest in critical
infrastructure improvements and additional year-round
attractions at Whiteface Mountain, Gore Mountain,
Belleayre Mountain, and the Olympic Facilities. In
addition, the state will issue a request for expressions of
interest to engage firms with ski industry and winter
sports expertise, ensuring that these resources are
invested in a manner that maximizes benefits to both
ORDA and the regional economy. Investment in these
cherished state assets will ensure success for
generations to come and bring significant economic and
tourism activity to our state.
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Proposal: Bridge the Gap in the North Country’s
Tourism Lodging Needs
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private investment in lodging. Empire State
Development will commission a study to identify lodging
development opportunities in the Adirondacks and
Thousand Island regions and provide $13 million in
capital funding through the REDCs and Upstate
Revitalization Initiative to spur development activity.
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Lake Placid is also in a unique position to secure
the International University Sports Federation World
University Winter Games to be held in 2023. The Winter
Universiade, an eleven-day sports and cultural event
held every two years in different locations around the
world, is the largest university winter multi-sport
competition in the world, drawing several thousand
students. In 2017, the Almaty Winter Universiade had a
record 57 countries compete in Kazakhstan, with over
360 million viewers worldwide.63
The event has only been held in the U.S. twice
before, both times in New York: Lake placid hosted the
winter games in 1972, and Buffalo hosted the summer
games in 1993. This year, Governor Cuomo will support
Lake Placid’s bid to once again host the Winter
Universiade in 2023. In conjunction with his ongoing
commitment to modernizing winter sports
infrastructure across New York, Governor Cuomo will
work together with local government and the private
sector to help Lake Placid put forth the best possible bid.
Bringing the games back to Lake Placid will further
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strengthen the city’s legacy as a global center for winter
sports, attract new tourists to Lake Placid and
neighboring communities, and fuel a critical engine of
the North Country’s economy.
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237
4. A CLEANER, GREENER
AND HEALTHIER NEW YORK:
THE WELLNESS AGENDA
Part 1. Protecting the Health of Our Communities
240
Governor Cuomo has championed legislation limiting
opioid prescriptions to seven days and requiring
providers to consult the prescription drug monitoring
database when prescribing opioids, which have become
national models for reform. To further protect New
Yorkers from addiction, the Governor will advance
legislation to restrict subsequent fills to no more than
one additional seven-day prescription of opioids for
acute pain without having an in-person visit with the
prescriber to evaluate alternative pain management
therapies. The Governor will also advance legislation
that authorizes the Department of Health (DOH) to apply
the same limitations to patients with a diagnosis of
chronic pain who have not previously used opioids and
to require Emergency Department prescribers to also
consult the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
before prescribing opioids. DOH and the Office of
Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) will
create a Statewide Pain Management Steering
Committee bringing together clinical experts to make
recommendations on pain management issues, taking
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into account the latest Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention guidelines.66
Third, the Governor will take steps to eliminate
insurance barriers to addiction treatment and recovery
services by limiting requirements for prior authorization
and co-payments for outpatient addiction treatment.
The Governor will also direct the new Statewide Pain
Management Committee to make recommendations
related to coverage of alternative pain management
treatments.
Fourth, in conjunction with eliminating insurance
barriers to treatment, Governor Cuomo will also direct
several State agencies to implement regulatory and
policy reforms that increase access to substance use
disorder services. These reforms may include
consideration of new regulations to include subacute
pain as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana. The
Governor proposes the creation of 250 Certified Peer
Recovery Advocates to assist our efforts to engage New
Yorkers in seeking treatment and sustaining their
recovery after treatment. Recovery Peer Advocates are
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people who have been impacted by addiction who use
their unique life experience to help others. Relevant
agencies will also coordinate and expand their efforts to
harness data and share information to mobilize more
rapid and comprehensive responses to drug overdoses.
Fifth, recognizing the increasing role of fentanyl
analogs in drug overdose deaths, the Governor will
advance legislation to add 11 fentanyl analogs to
Schedule I of the controlled substance schedules of New
York State Public Health Law. To combat the rising
threats and health risks of other synthetic drugs like K2
and Spice, the Governor is also advancing legislation to
add 35 different synthetic cannabinoids to New York’s
schedule of controlled substances and give the New York
State Health Commissioner the authority to add to the
state controlled substances schedule any new drugs that
have been added to the federal schedule. In so doing,
Governor Cuomo will be empowering state and local law
enforcement to use their investigative and prosecutorial
tools to crack down on dealers and aid in efforts to
prevent the spread of deadly new drugs as they emerge.
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Together, the Governor’s reforms will
dramatically increase the effectiveness and efficiency of
our addiction services and continue to build on New
York’s role as the national leader in combatting
addiction.
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authorities and all private landlords statewide make
sure our children are safe from this hazard.
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dandruff shampoo and parabens in moisturizers and
facial cleansers.
Governor Cuomo will propose legislation to
require the manufacturers of personal care products
sold in the State to make product ingredient information
publicly available in a clear and easy to use web
format. In addition, manufacturers will be required to
list those chemical ingredients which have been
identified by other state, federal or international
jurisdictions as posing a hazard to human health. A
centralized database of manufacturer disclosure
websites will be maintained by New York in partnership
with the Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse. These
initiatives will empower consumers by providing them
with the information they need to make well-informed
decisions regarding the chemicals their families are
exposed to daily. By requiring industry to be more
transparent and better educating consumers, this action
will encourage manufacturers to find innovative ways to
either replace or remove potentially harmful chemicals
from their products.
246
Proposal: Empower Health Care Consumers
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financial assistance policies with bills sent to
patients.
Prevent abusive medical debt collection
practices: To protect patients and their families
from abusive debt collection practices, Governor
Cuomo will expand existing legal protections for
families across the state to ensure that patients
receive sufficient notice before providers can
send their bills to collection and prohibit entities
from filing a lien against homes in the collection
of medical debt if the patient was eligible for
financial assistance from the provider and did not
receive it.
Simplify medical billing: Patients today are
expected to integrate, verify and prioritize cost
and billing information flowing to them for
multiple sources. This complexity makes it quite
difficult for families to understand and manage
their healthcare expenses. To address this issue,
the Governor will direct the Department of
Financial Services and the Department of Health
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to provide specific recommendations to simplify
medical bills so that consumers can more readily
understand them. The agencies will work with
healthcare providers and payers to rethink the
processes behind such bills and reconfigure the
workflow needed to help those entities support a
patient-facing product.
Create a searchable, digital external appeal
database: Far too many New Yorkers are
wrongfully denied coverage of health care
services. Under the Governor’s leadership, New
York’s landmark external appeal program
provides New Yorkers the right to obtain an
independent medical review when their health
plan denies health care services. The program
also significantly expanded the grounds for an
external appeal. Despite these achievements,
there is currently no easy way for consumers to
search prior external appeal decisions, and as a
result, consumers are often not able to assess
whether pursuing an appeal is
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worthwhile. Governor Cuomo will direct the
Department of Financial Services to create a
searchable database of prior external appeals
that consumers can easily access to review past
decisions. This database, which will be redacted
to remove personal health information, will assist
consumers with deciding whether or not to file an
external appeal, improve efficiency and
transparency of the process, hold insurers
publicly accountable and promote uniformity of
decisions.
Collectively, these actions will empower New
Yorkers with the tools they need to make decisions that
work best for themselves and their families – putting
patients first and leading the way for a healthier New
York.
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across the state, including in rural areas. Since 2011, the
uninsured rate for rural New Yorkers has declined by
almost half—many gaining health insurance for the first
time.
Many rural New Yorkers still face the challenges
of long travel distances and provider shortages, which
can present substantial costs and barriers to care.
Telehealth can be an important and effective tool in
bridging the access gap,68 yet health care providers in
rural areas face resource constraints across programs,
impeding their ability to make the investments
necessary to support innovative programs like telehealth
and expand access to care within their communities.
To continue to build on the State’s historic
progress in increasing access to health care, New York
State will take a series of steps to modernize the delivery
of telehealth services and ensure that rural New Yorkers
have access to the care they need, when and where they
need it.
First, New York State will propose legislation to
ensure that New Yorkers covered under the Medicaid
252
program can receive telehealth services in a wider range
of settings—including from their own homes. Under
current state law, outdated statutory barriers restrict the
settings in which patients can access telehealth
services—meaning patients looking to receive care may
still need to travel long distances in order to be eligible
for these services and may not be able to receive
telehealth services where and when they need them
most. Under new legislation, a patient may receive
telehealth services wherever they are located.
The State will also launch a new pilot program to
address the resource constraints that many rural health
care providers face. The pilot will support rural
providers across the State of New York—enabling them
to make the necessary investments in telemedicine
equipment and IT support to bring health care to rural
New York.
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Proposal: Strengthen the Rural Emergency Medical
Services System
254
To address the underlying issues facing rural EMS
agencies, Governor Cuomo proposes a three-pronged
Strengthening of the Rural Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) System plan to recruit, retain and strengthen the
EMS system across rural regions of New York State. To
ensure that New Yorkers, especially young New Yorkers,
are aware of the career possibilities in EMS and the
contribution that working in the EMS field makes to their
communities, the Department of Health will launch a
coordinated digital media and educational campaign to
heighten awareness of EMS employment opportunities
through partnerships with regional and local health care
organizations, area health educational centers (AHECs),
and EMS training systems. In addition, to enhance career
opportunities for EMS professionals and to improve
quality of care and lower costs to the health care system,
DOH will propose legislation to authorize Community
Paramedicine collaboratives and programs, which will
expand the scope of services carried out by emergency
medical technicians (EMTs) to include community
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settings beyond initial emergency care and
transportation.
Secondly, in an effort to increase the availability
of EMS training programs, DOH will work closely with
the boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES)
and community colleges throughout New York to
provide educational opportunities in diverse settings
outside of the traditional paradigm.
The third component of the plan will add
sophisticated, in-depth management educational
material to enhance existing supervisory training for
EMS professionals who want to advance their expertise
and take on leadership roles, and to expand interactive
web-based offerings and regional seminars in order to
reach a broader audience. The Strengthening of the Rural
EMS System plan will ensure a trained, effective EMS
workforce, and improve the timeliness, quality, and
delivery of EMS throughout rural areas of New York
State.
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Proposal: Leverage Hospital Community Benefit
Investments to Support Prevention Initiatives
257
investments toward community health improvement,
and as a result, hospital investment varies widely, with
recent reports indicating that New York hospitals
allocate only about 4 percent of community benefit
spending to investments in community health
improvement.69
In order to achieve greater alignment between
hospital community benefit investments and proven
models of preventative care, Governor Cuomo will
require that all voluntary non-profit hospitals in New
York State include budgets in their community service
plans, detailing investments in community health
improvement interventions, including those associated
with the Prevention Agenda. This new requirement will
increase transparency into how hospitals are
contributing to community health and will serve as a
guide to future decisions about spending requirements
needed to achieve public health goals, reduce health care
costs and build healthier communities.
258
Proposal: Support the Needs of the Modern Aging
Population
259
million New Yorkers are currently 60 years of age or
older, and 4.2 million are between the ages of 45 and
59.71 Within the next decade, 51 counties in New York
will have a population that is made up of at least 25
percent older adults.72
Building off the successes of the past year,
Governor Cuomo will advance a series of policies to
prepare for the emerging needs of a growing aging
population, including:
Launch a Long Term Care Planning Council: To
understand the projected and desired needs of
older adults in New York, Governor Cuomo will
launch a Long Term Care Planning Council that
will be charged with examining New York’s long-
term care system. The Council will analyze,
evaluate, and identify the existing service gaps in
New York’s long-term care system, determine the
most cost-effective evidence based interventions,
and prepare a strategic plan to meet the emerging
needs of New York’s aging population over the
next decade. The Council will be jointly-led by the
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Commissioner of Health and the Director of the
Office for the Aging, with participation from
external stakeholders.
Issue an Age Friendly Executive Order: As a
continued commitment to creating age-friendly
communities, the Governor will issue an
executive order that directs agencies to consider
the impact of their policies and procurements on
health and healthy aging, aligned with the eight
domains of an Age-Friendly Community. To
support the State’s commitment in creating age-
friendly communities, the State will set a goal of
making fifty-percent of all health systems age-
friendly within the next five years, which will
include the establishment of age-friendly
Emergency Rooms that will be better equipped to
provide care to aging New Yorkers with cognitive
and other physical disabilities.
Expand Advanced Care Planning: Advanced
Care Planning (ACP) not only empowers older
adults to participate in the decision-making
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process of their treatment, but also details their
wishes for care if they were unable to speak for
themselves. Governor Cuomo will initiate a
statewide ACP campaign, to include, public
outreach and education, engagement and
encouragement of New Yorkers of all ages to
complete ACP documents and a re-design of the
Department of Health’s ACP website to include
additional functionality and resources. The State
will also fully participate in National Health Care
Decision Day.
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Food imports are among the highest-risk
categories of food due to lax regulatory oversight in
other countries. In the absence of strong federal action to
protect our citizens from unsafe foods, New York must
step up.
To make New York a national leader in
agriculture technology and protect New Yorkers’ food
supply, the State will set standards for actionable limits
of contaminants in imported spices, build a research and
development facility that recycles forestry and logging
by-products, invest in a state-of-the-art food inspection
system, and re-establish a plant certification program to
ensure that the growing hard cider industry has virus-
free trees and vines. These actions include:
Create a Center of Excellence on Food Research to
determine actionable limits of contaminants
commonly found in imported foods, particularly
heavy metals and suspected carcinogens. DAM
will partner with DOH to develop standards to be
shared with the FDA to enable stricter
enforcement on contaminated imports.
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Support the growing hard cider industry by re-
establishing a plant certification program to
provide New York fruit nurseries with clean
stock. Focus will be on apple trees to help ensure
the growing hard cider industry has virus-free
trees and vines to growers, which yield higher
quality and quantity fruit.
Invest up to $6.6 million to build a new
Biorefinery Development and Commercialization
Center at SUNY Alfred to develop scalable
processing of recycled forestry and logging by-
products into bio-products, including commercial
fiber packaging, green compostable
/biodegradable plastic, food additives, and
biofuels. This will serve as a teaching facility and
support research and development of this
exciting new technology.
Partner with ITS to provide a state-of-the-art food
inspection system that brings food safety to the
21st century. Using technology will improve the
state’s capacity to conduct inspections and to
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educate the industry to increase access to safer
foods and ensure maximum compliance.
By conducting nation-leading agricultural
research and development, the State will create new
opportunities for commercialization in New York while
also supporting efforts to ensure New Yorkers consume
safe and high-quality foods.
265
anaplasmosis, 400 cases of babesiosis, 100 cases of
ehrlichiosis, and 30 cases of other tick-borne illnesses
reported to the Department of Health—with many other
cases going unreported. And 2017 also brought deadly
cases of the rare tick-borne disease Powassan.
In 2018, Governor Cuomo will launch an
aggressive initiative to reduce the incidence of Lyme
Disease and other tick-borne illnesses in New York State,
but controlling tick populations on public lands,
advancing research on diagnostics and treatment, and
further increasing public awareness. First, the Governor
will direct the Departments of Health and Environmental
Conservation, and the Office of Parks, Recreation and
Historic Preservation to launch a tick reduction strategy
targeting priority counties and public lands with the
highest risk of tick exposure and Lyme disease. Tick
control methods will include strategic application of eco-
friendly tick control treatments to high traffic trails and
facilities, as well the expanded use of 4-poster tickicide
stations to treat deer and traps to treat rodents. Second,
the Governor will direct the Commissioner of Health to
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establish a new working group on Lyme and other tick-
borne diseases to review current strategies and improve
the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne
diseases in New York State.
The DOH Wadsorth Center will work with private
partners to explore ways to improve diagnostic testing
and treatment for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, as
better solutions are needed to protect New Yorkers.
Third, the Department of Health will continue its robust
public outreach campaigns and also convene a tick-borne
disease summit this spring, bringing together national
experts, members of the new working group and local
health departments to review New York’s existing
initiatives, and to make recommendations for future
policy actions.
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Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York has invested
nearly $125 million to conserve over 140,000 acres of
land across the State, including 69,000 acres of land
previously owned by the former Finch, Pruyn &
Company paper company in the Adirondack Park, the
largest Adirondack land acquisition in over 100 years.
The Governor's landmark NY Parks 2020
initiative is a multi-year commitment to leverage private
and public funding to invest $900 million in State Parks
to fix and restore aging infrastructure and modernize
facilities for the 21st century visitor. The Governor has
championed major improvements to park facilities
across the state, such as the reopening the historic West
Bathhouse at Jones Beach and renewal of Terrapin Point
and the launch of the new Cave of the Winds interactive
experience at Niagara Falls.
To build on the success of Parks 2020, the
Governor launched Adventure NY in 2017, investing $50
million to connect more New York families and visitors
to the great outdoors by improving access to State lands,
rehabilitating campgrounds, and upgrading recreational
268
facilities such as duck blinds, boat launches and wildlife
viewing platforms. In 2017, the Governor also
championed the creation of the Empire State Trail by
investing $200 million to complete and connect the
Hudson River Valley Greenway and the Erie Canalway
trails by 2020.
Moreover, the Governor remains committed to
ensuring that underserved communities have
substantial recreational opportunities. Through the
Environmental Protection Fund, the Governor boosted
municipal park grants for inner-city and underserved
communities to a record $10 million in 2016 and 2017.
In addition, the Governor launched the Connect Kids to
Parks initiative offering free park entry to fourth-graders
and free class field trips to New York students K-12.
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disparities in Central Brooklyn by targeting and
investing in eight integrated areas, with a key focus on
improving access to open space and recreation
opportunities.
Central Brooklyn residents have some of the
fewest opportunities for physical fitness in the entire
state, with a number of neighborhoods that are “park
deserts” with little or no access to open space and
recreation. In fact, 84 percent of Central Brooklynites
have gone without adequate physical activity in the last
month alone, which is more than 30 percent higher than
the rest of the State.73 Vital Brooklyn is addressing this
disparity with an integrated model, creating new pocket
parks and playgrounds within a ten minute walk of each
neighborhood, alongside investments in: affordable
housing; access to healthy food; education and youth
development; violence prevention; improved health care
delivery; economic development; and resiliency.
In 2018, the Governor will advance the signature
open space project of the Vital Brooklyn Initiative—
creating the largest State Park in all of New York City. In
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partnership with the National Park Service and the City
of New York, the State will transform the former
Pennsylvania and Fountain Avenue landfills into a new
407-acre State Park on the shores of Jamaica Bay. This
stunning new waterfront Park will provide unparalleled
recreational opportunities for neighboring Central
Brooklyn communities that have tirelessly advocated for
new open space.
The City has already remediated, capped and
restored the landfills to a vibrant ecosystem of native
plant species. In addition, the State has completed design
work for the new Park and executed cooperative
agreements with NPS and the City to establish the long
sought-after facility. And now, the State will invest $15
million to open the property to the public, creating 3.5
miles of waterfront, paths and trails, and access to a
unique coastal highland with unmatched views of
Jamaica Bay. Activities will include biking, hiking, fishing,
kayaking, and environmental education, and amenities
will include comfort stations, shade structures and
concessions. Additional future investments may include
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the construction of a connecting bridge between the two
sites and an amphitheater, as envisioned by the
community.
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Constructing the new and first vacation cabins
and cottages on Long Island at Heckscher and
Wildwood State parks.
Completing the $70 million revitalization of
Niagara Falls State Park, a multi-year
commitment to transform the nation's oldest
state park and better reflect noted park designer
Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for the landscape.
Constructing a Green Lakes State Park
Environmental Education Center as part of the
$16.9 million transformation of Central New
York’s most-visited State Park.
Building a Minnewaska State Park Visitor Center
Opening the Major League Baseball Youth
Academy on the new and refurbished baseball
fields and completion of the new resilient
esplanade at Roberto Clemente State Park in New
York City.
Finishing the gateway transformation at the
entrance to the flagship Watkins Glen State Park.
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Opening the completely overhauled Peerless Pool
Complex at Saratoga Spa State Park.
Debuting the entrance transformation at Sunken
Meadow State Park which includes automation
for easier and faster access.
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spite of mounting opposition, railcars began to be
delivered for storage in October of this year, with at least
75 cars currently stored on the Tahawus Spur. DEC's
initial support for a freight line on the Tahawus Branch
through the Forest Preserve was intended to provide an
environmentally sound alternative to truck traffic, foster
economic development, as well as recreational
opportunities for snowmobile use. DEC never intended,
nor agreed, that Iowa Pacific should turn this corridor in
the pristine, forever wild wilderness of the Adirondack
Park into a commercial disposal site.
In December 2017, in order to derail Iowa Pacific
Co.’s plan and to protect the irreplaceable natural beauty
of the Adirondack Park, the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation filed a petition for
waivers and exemptions with the Surface Transportation
Board to support the State’s filing of an application for
adverse abandonment. In addition, the State called on
Berkshire Hathaway, owners of the Union Tank Car
Company, which owns the cars being stored, to stop this
plan and protect one of the nation's greatest natural
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treasures. In response, the Union Car Tank Company
announced that it would heed the State’s call and remove
all of its tank car units from the Adirondack Park as soon
as possible and ensure that its cars are not stored in the
Park in the future.
In the wake of this important victory for New
Yorkers, it remains imperative that Iowa Pacific Co. halt
their plan to store thousands of rail cars on these tracks
once and for all, and the State continues to stand ready to
exhaust all legal options to end this unacceptable
practice. In the letter to Iowa Pacific Co., DEC demanded
that Saratoga & North Creek Railway immediately cease
and desist receiving and storing any future railcars on
the Tahawus Branch, and remove existing stored
railcars, until a decision regarding this application is
rendered by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
These measures are the first step in a series of aggressive
actions New York State is taking to stop Iowa Pacific Co.'s
outrageous plan in its tracks and preserve
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Part 3. Protecting Our Clean Water
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replace and upgrade aging septic systems. In addition to
traditional infrastructure, $160 million is also available
for 'green' infrastructure, with $110 million dedicated
for source water protection initiatives, including land
acquisition.
The Governor’s track record also includes enacting
the $400 million Water Infrastructure Improvement Act
of 2015, securing a record $300 million investment for
the Environmental Protection Fund, and providing $11
billion in Drinking Water and Clean Water State
Revolving Fund financing.
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fortify the Bay Park wastewater treatment plant, $354
million to divert Bay Park sewage from the Western Bays
to the Cedar Creek outfall, $10 million to restore shellfish
once common to Long Island's waters in order to
improve water quality, a $6 million Long Island
Groundwater Study, a $5 million Long Island Nitrogen
Action Plan, and directing a comprehensive groundwater
impact investigation of all of Long Island's closed
landfills.
In Nassau County, industrial practices at the U.S.
Navy and Northrop Grumman Aerospace Bethpage
facilities in the Town of Oyster Bay have left a legacy of
pollution in the form of a massive contaminated
groundwater plume that has affected the surrounding
community since the 1930s. The underlying aquifer
system and extent of contamination is extremely
complex: three overlapping plumes are approximately
1.8 miles wide and 3.7 miles long, reach depths of 800
feet, and contain significant concentrations of industrial
contaminants such as trichloroethene and 1,4-dioxane,
which is an emerging, unregulated contaminant.
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At the Governor's direction, in February 2017,
DEC launched an engineering investigation to assess
expedited cleanup options, including full containment of
the plume, in order to ensure the contamination does not
threaten additional drinking water wells. The
investigation included drilling exploratory wells to a
depth of 1,000 feet and synthesizing more than 180,000
groundwater sample data points spanning decades. In
addition, the analysis developed a state-of-the-art 3D
computer model capable of simulating groundwater
flow, which—for the first time ever—allowed DEC to
assess various groundwater pumping and discharge
scenarios. DEC's ongoing investigation indicates that full
containment and treatment is possible.
This year, New York State will fast-track
construction of a new, state-of-the-art well system to
fully contain and treat the plume of contamination and
protect the quality of drinking water on Long Island. The
system will likely include at least 14 wells strategically
located around the perimeter of the plume to prevent it
from migrating further south and impacting additional
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communities. In addition, priority wells will be located
within the plume to target hot spots of contamination.
The well system will extract and treat the water using
carbon filtration, air stripping technology, and
ultraviolet light, as well as advanced oxidation to treat
1,4-dioxane and return treated water to the aquifer.
To jump-start the remediation effort, the State
will fast-track well construction in 2018 and will use all
legal tools at its disposal to hold the U.S. Navy and
Northrop Grumman accountable for the construction
and operation of the containment and treatment system.
The full containment and treatment system is estimated
to cost at least $150 million to construct.
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communities along the Hudson River ever since,
including the decimation of a once-thriving commercial
fishery valued at $40 million. Governor Cuomo has urged
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
conduct a complete and thorough review of ongoing
cleanup efforts, and in 2016, the Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) demanded the EPA
take additional samples of river sediments in order to
determine the effectiveness of the dredging. When the
EPA refused, DEC led the effort by collecting over 1,200
samples in 2017.
Governor Cuomo, in partnership with Attorney
General Eric Schneiderman, has committed to
immediately take steps necessary to sue the EPA if the
agency accepts the Upper Hudson River cleanup of
polychlorinated biphenyls as complete. The EPA was
expected to certify the remedy in late December, but has
apparently delayed its decision. In light of the
overwhelming evidence and data that the remedy is not
protective of human health and the environment, EPA’s
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decision to certify the PCB remedy for the Upper Hudson
River as complete is indefensible.
As the EPA continues to abdicate its
responsibility, Governor Cuomo will fight to protect the
river and the surrounding communities. The Governor
and Attorney General will sue the federal government if
it ignores the overwhelming evidence and data and
demand that the dredging is completed once and for all.
New York is also prepared to withdraw from the 2002
Record of Decision (ROD) which guided the cleanup and
removal of millions of tons of PCB-contaminated
sediment from the Upper Hudson River.
The ROD, which was signed under a previous
administration, guided the cleanup effort and removal of
millions of tons of PCB-contaminated sediment from a
portion of the Upper Hudson River; specifically, it
expected PCB levels in fish would rapidly decline.
Unfortunately, EPA's 2002 decision relied on flawed
modeling rather than actual sampling data, and their
current draft five-year review of the dredging
effectiveness, together with fish contamination data and
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recent DEC sediment sampling, indicates these
objectives will not be met. The EPA's own analysis
indicates that fish species will not reach the levels
envisioned in the cleanup plan for more than fifty years
absent additional action. That is simply too long and not
consistent with the estimates in the ROD. The EPA must
evaluate the removal of additional contamination and
must not issue a certificate of completion at this time.
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regulated beaches and public water systems. The
Governor has also directed aggressive actions to protect
the public when blooms have impacted susceptible
drinking water supplies, including investing $2 million
towards the design, engineering, and construction of
upgrades to the drinking water treatment systems in the
City of Auburn and Town of Owasco in 2017.
In recent years, the extent, duration, and impacts,
and awareness of HABs have increased, threatening the
recreational use of lakes that are essential to upstate
tourism, as well as sources of drinking water. In 2017,
more than 100 beaches were closed for at least part of
the summer due to HABs, and Skaneateles Lake, a
cherished source of unfiltered drinking water for several
communities including the city of Syracuse, was
threatened by algal blooms for the first time. While the
finished drinking water was not impacted, this event
highlights the need to better understand the causes and
control of these HABs.
This year, Governor Cuomo will implement a $65
million 4-point initiative to aggressively combat harmful
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algal blooms in Upstate New York. Twelve priority lakes
that are vulnerable to HABs and are critical sources of
drinking water and vital tourism drivers were chosen as
priority waterbodies because they represent a wide
range of conditions and vulnerabilities and the lessons
learned will be applied to other impacted waterbodies
moving forward. Those lakes are:
Western Group: Conesus Lake; Honeoye Lake;
Chautauqua Lake
Central Group: Owasco Lake; Skaneateles Lake;
Cayuga Lake
North Country Group: Lake Champlain at Port
Henry; New York portion of Lake Champlain at
Isle La Motte watershed; Lake George
Greater Hudson Valley Group: Lake Carmel;
Palmer Lake; Putnam Lake; Monhagen Brook
watershed, including the five reservoirs serving
the Middletown area
The State's Water Quality Rapid Response Team
will convene four Regional Summits to bring together
nation-leading experts with Steering Committees of local
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stakeholders established for each lake. The Rapid
Response Team, national experts, and local stakeholders
will collaboratively develop Action Plans to identify
contributing factors fueling HABs and the state will
provide $500,000 per lake to develop immediate action
plans to reduce sources of pollution that spark algal
blooms. The state will provide nearly $60 million in grant
funding to implement the Action Plans, including new
monitoring and treatment technologies. This
comprehensive program will continue New York's
national leadership in responding to the threat of
harmful algal blooms and establish a national model for
protecting our natural resources.
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releases this summer, Governor Cuomo directed the
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to
hold the Niagara Falls Water Board accountable and to
take actions to protect water quality at this iconic tourist
attraction. DEC’s assessment concluded that poor
operation and inadequate design of the facility caused
the non-permitted discharges, requiring repairs and
improved training, amongst other steps.
To ensure that the Niagara Falls wastewater
facility’s problems are resolved in a comprehensive
fashion, Governor Cuomo will invest over $20 million to
launch Phase One of the wastewater system overhaul to
complete comprehensive infrastructure and operational
improvements at the Niagara Falls Wastewater
Treatment Facility. The Governor's proposal also
provides $500,000 to expedite two engineering studies
that are evaluating both the plant's discharges and
treatment systems, which are required by the new
consent order with the Niagara Falls Water Board. The
results of these studies will help guide and inform the
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$20 million Phase One investment, serving to protect one
of the nation’s greatest natural treasures.
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5. LEADING THE FIGHT
AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
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In these critical times, New York State will
continue to step up and protect our environment, health,
and the future of our children.
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In 2018, Governor Cuomo looks forward to
working with the other RGGI states and potential new
partners in Virginia and New Jersey to ensure a smooth
transition to a broader, more cost-efficient GHG market
that maintains the initiative’s ambitious reductions in
climate pollution.
The Governor will also direct the Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) to undertake a rule-
making in 2018 to implement the 30 percent cap
reduction of carbon dioxide to avoid nearly 133 million
tons of additional carbon pollution region-wide from the
electric power sector announced by the RGGI states in
August 2017, including revisions to strengthen RGGI by
grouping together and thereby covering peaking units
that collectively exceed RGGI's capacity threshold of 25
megawatts. The Governor will also direct DEC to work
with the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority (NYSERDA) to engage the
Environmental Justice & Just Transition Working Group
convened by the Governor in 2017, to ensure that
Environmental Justice communities benefit equitably
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from investment of RGGI auction proceeds. DEC and
NYSERDA will also continue and expand efforts to
ensure workers affected by the eventual retirement of
fossil fuel plants are able to fully realize the new
opportunities created in the transition to a clean energy
economy and find new well-paying clean energy jobs.
This year, DEC will also propose complementary
reforms to reduce emissions of smog-forming pollutants
from peaking units and will adopt regulations ending the
use of coal in the state’s power plants by 2020. In
addition, DEC will adopt regulations ending the use of
coal in the state's power plants by 2020. This is
something the Governor called for in his 2016 State of
the State address.
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other willing partners continue to meet or exceed the
targets of the Paris Agreement on climate change. While
the federal government turns a blind eye to the need for
climate action, New York State is doubling down.
After announcing its withdrawal from the Paris
Agreement, the federal government took another
misguided step by disbanding the Federal Advisory
Committee for the Sustained National Climate
Assessment,74 a group of leading scientists and
stakeholders tasked with providing recommendations to
the federal government on scientific information to
support state and local governments, communities, and
the private sector in planning for the effects of climate
change. In the absence of guidance from the Advisory
Committee, decision-makers will have limited ability to
know how climate change will impact their organizations
and communities, and what they can do to better plan for
those impacts.
Therefore, Governor Cuomo, as co-chair of the
U.S. Climate Alliance and in collaboration with partners,
will reconvene the Advisory Committee to develop
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recommendations to navigate the challenges of climate
change. As a result, the Advisory Committee will
continue its critical work without political interference
and provide the guidance needed to adapt to a changing
climate.
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extreme weather have not only recovered, but built back
better than before.
New York’s approach is in stark contrast to that of
the federal government, which is rolling back its flood
resiliency rules. For example, in Houston, federally
funded recovery projects are only required to meet a
100-year flood elevation standard75—despite the fact
that Houston has experienced three 500-year flooding
events in the last three years alone.76 Recognizing that
the effects of climate change are only predicted to get
worse, New York is shifting its focus to a proactive rather
than reactive approach.
This year, Governor Cuomo proposes to develop a
comprehensive program to adapt to and prepare for
extreme weather associated with climate change. The
Governor will direct the Department of Environmental
Conservation to issue resiliency guidelines modeled
after a federal order that was unwisely revoked, and
further require that state funding for infrastructure
projects consider these commonsense resiliency criteria.
Additionally, the Department of State will recommend
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changes to the State Fire Prevention and Building Code
that will increase climate resiliency, and the Department
of Environmental Conservation will update and improve
its maps of wetlands and coastal risk areas. State
agencies will also lead by example with the
implementation of individual adaptation plans based on
the risks identified by the State Vulnerability Assessment
funded by the Environmental Protection Fund.
Finally, the State will provide financial support
for state-of-the-art local resiliency plans to create a
pipeline of projects to increase the flood resiliency of our
communities by protecting streams, coasts and critical
infrastructure-such as hospitals, transit systems,
bridges, water and wastewater infrastructure, dams,
culverts and levees, as well as homes and small
businesses. Interagency response teams will also
conduct at least 40 emergency flood response trainings
in communities across New York annually.
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Proposal: Establish New Energy Efficiency Target by
Earth Day
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commercial buildings in Manhattan. These activities are
expected to save New Yorkers a remarkable $39 billion
in energy costs over the next 10 years while significantly
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
However, much work remains to realize the full
potential of energy efficiency for New Yorkers.
Homeowners and renters often do not invest in
comprehensive energy-saving upgrades due to high
upfront costs or lack of knowledge about the financing
and technology options that can save money over the
long-term. And while significant innovation and growth
have been achieved in the renewable energy industry in
New York, energy efficiency has not been on the same
trajectory towards greater energy savings and
greenhouse gas reductions like solar and wind. Creating
a more energy efficient New York will require effort
across the board to attract greater investment and
innovation in energy efficiency.
To address this, Governor Cuomo is directing the
New York Department of Public Service and the New
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York State Energy and Research Development Authority
to:
Engage stakeholders in the public and private
sectors, and propose a comprehensive and far-
reaching energy efficiency initiative by Earth Day,
April 22, 2018;
Propose a new 2025 energy efficiency target
achieved through cost effective implementation
strategies and innovative approaches from both
utilities and the Clean Energy Fund, which will
accelerate progress towards the state's ambitious
climate and clean energy goals; and
Identify opportunities by which state facilities can
lead by example.
In addition, NYSERDA will propose the
establishment of appliance efficiency standards, with
support for implementation from the Clean Energy Fund.
This strategy is proven to achieve significant energy
savings and is a function recently abdicated by the
federal government. As co-chair of the U.S. Climate
Alliance, New York State will work with its partners in
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other states to help scale state-level appliance efficiency.
Working through the U.S. Climate Alliance and with other
partners, New York State will provide certainty to
manufacturers that appliance efficiency standards must
be met across the United States.
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Governor is also directing NYSERDA to work with low-
income energy efficiency programs, utilities, community
agencies, solar project developers, investors and other
stakeholders to market the program to low-income
customers and develop strategies for how the program
can better serve low-income New Yorkers and help them
participate in the growing clean energy economy.
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and school cafeterias, to safer alternative technologies. It
will also develop new building codes to encourage the
use of climate-friendly alternatives and provide free
audits and technical assistance to help businesses
identify opportunities to reduce emissions and costs.
New York State will also work with fellow U.S. Climate
Alliance member states to explore options for phasing
out HFCs in alignment with the Paris Agreement and the
Montreal Protocol. By providing tools to account for the
leakage of highly-potent greenhouse gases and
assistance for switching to cleaner alternatives, this
proposal will save businesses and consumers money, cut
down on energy usage and help protect New Yorkers
from the worst effects of climate change.
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New York from the $127.7 million available to New York
from the settlement of Volkswagen’s violation of the
Clean Air Act. DEC, working with the New York State
Energy Research and Development Authority and the
transportation agencies and authorities, will produce a
plan early this year to support the transition of the
transit system to electric or other advanced technologies,
including the replacement of diesel transit buses across
the state.
The plan will also include the replacement of old,
high-emitting school buses that pollute the air in the
vicinity of schools and freight trucks that operate in
crowded urban areas, with particular benefits to
environmental justice communities. All categories of
investment will prioritize replacement of diesel vehicles
with emission-free electric vehicles, stimulating the
transformation to a low-carbon transportation system.
Additionally, DEC will support electrification of airport
equipment, repowering of tugs and ferries, and
replacement of freight switcher locomotives that operate
in the state’s urban switchyards. With this strategic,
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comprehensive plan, New York State will seek to invest
all of the Volkswagen settlement funds over the next
three years.
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susceptible to extreme weather events. They will also
coordinate with other states participating in the
Transportation and Climate Initiative to explore
potential regional policies and partnerships for states to
work together in reducing transportation emissions.
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Proposal: Prepare Puerto Rico for the New Climate
Reality
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power restoration. In addition, on November 2, 2017,
Governor Cuomo joined with Governor Rosselló of
Puerto Rico to announce the formation of a
multidisciplinary team to help Puerto Rico assess storm
damage to secure a robust federal aid package. As a part
of this effort, the newly-formed Puerto Rico Energy
Resiliency Work Group, composed of experts from the
New York Power Authority, Long Island Power
Authority, ConEdison, PSEG, Edison International,
Electric Power Research Institute, Smart Electric Power
Alliance, U.S. Department of Energy, and national labs
completed a blueprint for rebuilding a more resilient,
sustainable grid hardened to withstand future storms.
The blueprint, known as Build Back Better: Reimagining
and Strengthening the Power Grid of Puerto Rico, is
currently being used by Puerto Rico’s utility PREPA and
Governor Rosselló to help inform the recovery process.
In 2018, New York State will help implement the
blueprint to create a new energy system for Puerto Rico
that sets a global example for cost, resilience,
sustainability, and customer engagement and
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empowerment. First, NYPA and other members of the
Puerto Rico Energy Resiliency Group will engage with
new stakeholders to assist PREPA with performing
system studies and updating the Integrated Resource
Plan for the Island, both required for successful
implementation of the blueprint. The team will work
with the newly formed Central Recovery and
Reconstruction Office (CRRO) under Governor Rosselló,
as well as FEMA and other appropriate state and federal
agencies to establish the processes and tools required to
manage the repair and modernization of the energy grid.
Second, NYPA and its partners will help Puerto Rico
make the case in Washington for approval of the $17
billion request for aid to repair, harden and modernize
the Island’s energy system. NYPA and its partners will
brief interested parties such as the U.S. Senate and
Congressional energy committees, as well as relevant
federal agencies including FEMA, DOE, HUD and DHS on
the rebuilding plan, and advocate for approval of the full
funding request. Third, NYPA along with other industry
leaders will participate in the Transformation Advisory
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Council formed by PREPA’s Board of Directors. NYPA will
share knowledge and experience gained working on the
LIPA Reform Act, including securitization of debt, and
exploration of options to develop a long-term vision for
the energy sector that empowers customers and meets
Puerto Rico’s needs for affordable, sustainable energy
service and an integrated, reliable network with
increased penetration of renewable energy.
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6. ADVANCING THE
DEMOCRACY AGENDA
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announced a series of aggressive executive actions
designed to expand voter registration opportunities for
New Yorkers. These steps to help combat low voter
participation across New York, which came amid
troubling news that the federal government is
considering actions to restrict voter access, included an
Executive Order directing every state agency to make
available voter registration forms and to offer assistance
in filling them out as well as a call for SUNY and CUNY to
ensure that required steps are being taken to increase
voter registration rates among young voters on our
State's public college campuses.
In 2017, Governor will expand on these efforts to
protect our electoral process and restore confidence in
government.
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a paid political ad; and second, who is responsible
for it.
Require digital platforms to maintain a public
file of all political advertisements purchased
by a person or group for publication on the
platform: As stated by Senators Klobuchar,
McCain, and Warner in their federal proposal for
the Honest Ads Act, the public nature of
television, radio, and satellite ensures a level of
publicity for any political advertisement, and
makes them accessible to the press, fact-checkers,
and political opponents. This publicity
discourages the dissemination of false,
inflammatory, or contradictory information. In
contrast, on social media and other online
platforms, the ability to directly target portions of
the electorate with ephemeral advertisements
based on private information held by the platform
facilitates political advertisements that are often
contradictory, inflammatory or false. To rectify
this and ensure greater transparency in online
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political advertisements, Governor Cuomo
proposes to require digital platforms to maintain
a public file of all political communications
purchased by a person or group on their platform
related to New York State elections. The file
would contain a digital copy of the advertisement,
a description of the audience the advertisement
targets, the number of views generated, the dates
and times of publication, the rates charged, and
the contact information of the purchaser. This
archive will ensure that political ads do not
disappear, and that they are viewable, and able to
be fact-checked, by a larger portion of the
electorate.
Require online platforms to make reasonable
efforts to ensure that foreign individuals and
entities are not purchasing political
advertisements in order to influence the
American electorate: By amending state law so
that paid internet or digital advertisements are
included in the definition of political
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communications, New York will work to ensure
that foreign entities are unable to covertly
purchase and distribute political advertising
related to state elections through social media or
other outlets. Under the new law, digital ad
buyers will be required to register as an
independent expenditure committee, just as they
would if they were purchasing time on television.
Foreign entities will be prohibited from forming
an independent expenditure committee and, as a
result, would be unable to purchase and publish
political advertising online.
Additionally, paid political ads online will be required
to clearly and conspicuously display the person who paid
for the ad, and confirm that it was not authorized or
requested by any candidate. Under this proposal, online
political ads will face the same disclosure requirements
as television or radio ads, no matter what they cost, and
voters will be able to see where the ad is coming from,
even if it is as small as a tweet. Violations of these
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requirements would be subject to a civil penalty of up to
$1,000 for each instance.
Proposal: Institute Early Voting
New York is one of only 13 states where early
voting is not available and an excuse is required to
request an absentee ballot. New Yorkers can vote via
absentee ballot only if the voter meets certain
qualifications such as being absent from his or her
county on Election Day or being unable to get to the polls
due to a disability.
Research shows that work, school, and personal
commitments can prevent voters from participating in
United States elections.80 Early voting would ameliorate
these inhibitors and lead to shorter lines on Election Day,
early detection and correction of registration errors and
greater access to voting.81 Currently, 37 states and the
District of Columbia already allow voters to cast ballots
in person before Election Day.
To make it easier for New Yorkers to vote,
Governor Cuomo proposes to institute early voting in the
State. The proposal requires every county to offer
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residents access to at least one early voting poll site
during the 12 days leading up to Election Day. Voters will
have at least eight hours on weekdays and five hours on
weekends to cast early ballots. Counties must have one
early voting poll site for every 50,000 residents and the
bipartisan County Boards of Elections will determine the
specific location of early voting polling places, subject to
standards of accessibility and convenience.
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To modernize the voter registration process, the
Governor proposes adopting a system that implements
automatic voter registration. The new system will
streamline state services by automatically sending
voters' information from relevant agencies application
directly to the County Board of Elections. New Yorkers
who do not wish to register to vote can simply check an
"opt out" box.
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Proposal: Enhance Statewide Election Cyber Security
Resilience and Defend Against Election Disruption
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intelligence is quickly distributed to local
stakeholders.
The State will create and deploy the Elections
Cyber Security Support Toolkit – a new suite
of threat mitigation tools to ensure election
security at the state and local levels. This will
include log-in and network monitoring
software and hardware and services,
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) defense,
and change-detection software to ensure that
all changes to voter databases are logged and
monitored, and any inconsistencies and
discrepancies are identified, investigated, and
corrected in a timely manner.
The Office of Information Technology Services
will provide cyber risk vulnerability
assessments and support to County Boards of
Elections to ensure vulnerabilities are
identified and voting machines are protected.
The State will also offer free hosted Disaster
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Recovery services to ensure the integrity of
voter information is protected.
Finally, to further ensure the integrity of our
elections, the Governor will require County
Boards of Elections to notify the State Board of
Elections and the State Police whenever there
is a data breach that could potentially expose
private voter or election information; and
require the State Board of Elections to issue an
annual New York Election Security Report to
the Executive and Legislature outlining
security risks and recommendations for
remediation actions the State should take to
address those risks.
These aggressive actions affirm Governor
Cuomo’s commitment to secure the accuracy and
integrity of votes cast and voter information. New York
will stand firm and ensure that our democratic values are
strengthened rather than eroded by those that seek to
undermine our system of governance.
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Part 2. Increasing Transparency and Continuing
Ethics Reform
331
a torrent of dark money into our political system,
stymieing ordinary peoples’ ability to have their voices
heard. Another piece of this bill was designed to shed
sunlight on the funding behind issue advertisements that
are communicated to large groups of people, so that the
public may know exactly who, and how much is being
spent on influencing elections and the legislative
process. Last year’s ethics reforms were also designed to
combat dark money in politics by increasing the required
disclosures for groups affiliated with lobbying
organizations to prevent donors from hiding in the
shadows because at the end of the day, the public
deserves to know who is trying to influence those elected
to serve the public. Still other sections increased
reporting thresholds so that more disclosure would be
required from persons and entities engaged in lobbying,
and yet other sections increased penalties for lobbyists’
misdeeds. But there is still work to be done. This year,
Governor Cuomo proposes a two-fold approach to ethics
and good government reforms. His proposals will
reiterate the continued need to address unresolved
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problems, shed sunlight on our political process and
those who fund aspects of it, and will also identify new
solutions to rebuild the trust and confidence that New
Yorkers should have in their elected representatives.
The Governor will propose constitutional
amendments to limit outside income for members of the
New York State Legislature, and to impose term limits for
members of the Legislature and state-wide elected
officials. He will propose closing the “LLC Loophole” as
well as additional campaign finance reforms, requiring
local elected officials to file financial disclosure
requirements either the same as their state counterparts
or approved by the state, and proposing comprehensive
reforms to the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to
achieve consistency and increase transparency. He will
also propose expanding the authority of the State
Inspector General and enacting reforms to ensure
greater oversight over the current state procurement
process.
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Proposal: Advance Constitutional Amendment
Limiting Outside Income and Creating a Fulltime
Legislature
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Governor proposes a constitutional amendment to
create 4-year legislative terms for members of the Senate
and the Assembly. The proposed constitutional
amendment would also impose 8-year term limits for
new members, and impose term limits for statewide
officials.
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get little to no guidance in thinking through inherent
conflicts.
As such, the Governor proposes legislation which
would require all legislators to seek an advisory opinion
from the legislative ethics commission before earning
outside income. To further support in their deliberations
and discussions regarding outside income and conflicts
of interest and reinforce the public’s trust in the process,
a designee from the Office of Court Administration would
serve on the commission. By examining compensation
from non-state activities on a case by case basis, this
measure would help guide our elected representatives,
prevent conflicts of interest, and increase the public’s
trust in all their elected officials.
337
government salary, as well as all county executives,
county managers, and all chairs of county board of
supervisors file the same financial disclosure statements
that state employees file with the Joint Commission on
Public Ethics, or a similar form to be approved by the
state. This means that municipal employees would
provide the same information in their financial
disclosure statements as state employees, including his
or her spouse’s or partner’s income. Sunlight, in this
instance, goes a long way towards assuring the public
that those entrusted with government service are
fulfilling their duty to the public.
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donations. Governor Cuomo proposes to do just that by
instituting a voluntary public financing system that
matches small donations with public funds. Only then
will all New Yorkers, not just a select few, gain the power
to make their voices heard. New York law also continues
to allow unlimited contributions to party “housekeeping”
accounts by individuals and corporations.
These accounts are designed to support non-
campaign party activities, but instead provide another
mechanism for big donors to impact political campaigns.
New York also still allows a campaign’s intermediary,
known as a “bundler”, to pass large groupings of
individual contributions to a single campaign without
disclosing the bundler’s identify. The Governor proposes
to address both issues by placing a $25,000 contribution
limit on housekeeping accounts and requiring all
“bundlers” to disclose their identities.
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Proposal: Promote Increased Transparency through
Comprehensive Reforms to FOIL
340
Proposal: Expand the Authority of the State Inspector
General
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university and its affiliates, and to refer potential
criminal findings within these entities for prosecution.
The Governor also proposes broadening the Inspector
General’s authority to include all state-related
procurement and the implementation and enforcement
of financial control policies at SUNY and CUNY. This
would allow the Inspector General to oversee the policies
of any affiliated nonprofit organization and foundation of
each respective university.
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contributions to any officeholder in the branch of
government awarding the contract while the decision is
pending, and for six months following the contract
award.
Finally, under current practice, the Office of the
State Comptroller, the Office of the Attorney General, and
the Office of General Services either undertake reviews
and audits or process payments of contract vendors
and/or grantees that have multiple projects with the
State. However, they lack a single system to track
payments and audits of these entities and fail to
coordinate their efforts on a routine basis. This should
change. The Governor proposes legislation that will
direct these entities, along with the Chief Procurement
Officer and the Office of Information Technology, to
collaborate on a study and make recommendations
regarding initiatives to better enable the public to track
state contracts and audits.
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345
7. BUILDING A STRONGER,
SAFER NEW YORK
346
museums at risk of hate crimes or attacks because of
their ideology, beliefs or mission.
This past year, New Yorkers faced the devastating
consequences of extreme weather. In response to the
widespread flooding along the St. Lawrence River and
Lake Ontario, Governor Cuomo deployed hundreds of
National Guardsmen and emergency personnel and
established a $15 million grant program through Empire
State Development to help locals recover. Similarly, New
York State responded quickly and aggressively to
windstorms in western New York, unusual flooding
events in the Mohawk Valley, and devastating winter
storm Stella by providing material support to local
communities and assistance with recovery efforts.
New York’s emergency response extended
beyond our borders to support our neighbors and the
entire New York family. In the wake of tragic extreme
weather in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas,
Florida, and California, New York once again established
itself as a national leader by sending much-needed
donations, services, goods and funds to assist in relief
347
and recovery efforts as well as hundreds of State
Troopers and National Guard members to assist these
areas.
In order to combat gun and gang violence
throughout the State, Governor Cuomo has also invested
in innovative and evidence based crime prevention
tactics including Gun Involved Violence Elimination
(GIVE), which provides technical support and funding to
local programs to tackle gun-involved crime, and SNUG
that support neighborhood-based violence reduction
programs to promote community outreach, family
engagement and intervention to steer young people
away from gun violence.
This year, the Governor proposes a public safety
package that will build on the Governor’s legacy of
fighting for the safety all of New Yorkers.
349
Program to schools and nonprofit organizations
located in at-risk areas on Long Island identified
by the State Office of Children and Family
Services, Division of Criminal Justice Services,
Division of State Police, County Executive, and
local law enforcement. This expanded initiative
will keep young people engaged in sports, music,
and other educational programming during after
school hours and help deter any potential gang
activity or involvement.
Expand job and vocational training
opportunities for at-risk young people:
Governor Cuomo proposes creating a special $5
million program within the state's successful New
York Youth Jobs voucher program in order to
provide individualized job training to young
people who are the most at risk from being
potentially recruited into gangs. The employment
and training program will also provide tax
incentives to companies that provide job
opportunities for at-risk youth.
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Provide gang prevention education program
ming to at-risk students: Governor Cuomo
proposes a $1.5 million investment over three
years in locally run programs targeted at middle
and high school students focused on early
intervention and violence prevention. As street
gangs such as MS-13 often attempt to recruit
young people that are middle-school age, the
initiative will provide in-school training and
support to help students avoid gang recruitment,
peer pressure, violence, and delinquent behavior.
Expand comprehensive support services for
at-risk young people, including immigrant
children: MS-13 is infamous for its efforts
targeting vulnerable young people, including
immigrant youth who may not have strong family
ties and social support since they are new to the
country. To provide these youths with the
resources they need to succeed, Governor Cuomo
proposes investing $3 million over three years to
support comprehensive case management for at
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risk young people, with a focus
on unaccompanied children entering the United
States. This will include medical and mental
health support, addiction treatment, trauma and
family counseling, language training, and other
community support services.
Deploy a Community Assistance Team: The
Governor will deploy a Community Assistance
team composed of six State Troopers, three
investigators, one senior investigator and one
supervisor. This proactive team will partner with
local law enforcement and use intelligence
derived from the Computer Aided Dispatching
Program, the New York State Intelligence Center,
and Regional Crime Analysis Centers to identify
and engage gang activity hot-spots or respond to
departmental and community requests for
increased service. This team will ensure that law
enforcement have additional resources available
to prevent gang victimization in the community.
352
This holistic approach will ensure the State is
investing its resources wisely to prevent youth of
younger ages from being recruited into violent gangs and
intervene to disrupt gang activity.
353
provide health care benefits to volunteer firefighters
who have been diagnosed with certain cancers.
This year, Governor Cuomo will continue his
commitment to provide New York’s firefighters with the
tools and training they need by constructing a new Field
Operations Building at the New York State Academy of
Fire Science. The new facility will provide career and
volunteer firefighters state-of-the-art classrooms,
advanced equipment, and greater space to improve and
maximize the delivery of training to New York’s first
responders. This project will also serve as another
important asset in the Southern Tier, providing
construction and economic development benefits to
Schuyler County and the surrounding region.
354
annually to determine if and how these organizations
report suspicious activity. In 2015, he launched the “See
Something, Send Something” campaign, making New
York the only state with the ability to report unusual
behavior via text message.
355
bridges, tunnels, trains, buses and airports, as well as our
transit hubs at Penn Station and Grand Central Station.
In the interim, Governor Cuomo is taking action to
restrict terrorists’ capabilities and make it easier for New
Yorkers to report suspicious activity. These actions will
improve statewide security and strengthen counter
terrorism policies, procedures, and tactics. the state will
take additional actions to further secure the state. These
include:
• Expand vehicle rental regulations: Governor
Cuomo will put forward legislation to require any person
attempting to rent a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight
rating (GVWR) of more than 10,000 pounds to present a
valid driver’s license and an additional form of ID to the
vehicle rental company in order to obtain the keys. This
will ensure that individuals attempting to rent a vehicle
actually are who they say they are and prevent any
attempted deception to conceal a renter’s identify for
malicious purposes.
• Launch a terrorism tip line: Building off of the
“See Something, Say Something” campaign, New York
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will work with the Public Service Commission to
establish a first of its kind three-digit tip line dedicated
to reporting terrorist threats and suspicious activity.
Rather than a longer 1-800 number, this three-digit line
will be easy for New Yorkers to recall in the event they
witness suspicious activity and encourage further
reporting to prevent a potential terrorist act.
These actions will enable New York State to
provide an effective deterrent to new methods of
terrorist attack and enhance preparedness and response
capabilities statewide. In the face of terror, New Yorkers
remain resilient. These actions will only strengthen the
resolve of the State’s governments, businesses, and
citizens making each stronger and more prepared in the
event of a terrorist attack.
357
and work. From creating new cyber security units in the
New York State Police and the Division of Homeland
Security and Emergency Services to developing the
nation’s first cyber regulations for banks and insurance
companies, the Governor has worked hard to protect
New York’s citizens and organizations from increasingly
sophisticated and disruptive cyber-attacks.
Among the Governor’s greatest responsibilities is
to protect information entrusted to State agencies. Some
of the biggest risks in these agencies comes from their
supply chain—those vendors and contractors that help
New York deliver essential services to its citizens.
Several recent prominent cyber breaches across the
nation illustrate how weaknesses in a supplier can lead
to a breach in the contracting organization, even if the
two entities do not explicitly share sensitive data with
each other.
To protect New Yorkers, the Governor is issuing
an Executive Order directing State agencies to
implement a strategy for reducing the supply chain risk.
This strategy will ensure that the State’s suppliers have
358
cyber protections in place that are comparable to the
protections in State agencies. It will also require vendors
to notify the State whenever they experience a cyber-
incident, and include provisions so New York can ensure
that vendors live up to their contractual requirements.
The Governor’s actions will help create a more secure
and resilient State government, protect the sensitive
information of millions of New Yorkers, and ensure
vendors are better equipped to fend off the many cyber
challenges that they face.
360
State are mapped both internally and externally so first
responders can enter with greater certainty about where
they are going, where threats may exist, and where
victims may be hiding. This information will enable them
to operate around new and unfamiliar locations with
certainty and speed to rapidly save as many lives as
possible.
361
1The International Planned Parenthood Federation. (2015, March
19). Sexual and reproductive health and rights – the key to gender
equality and women’s empowerment. Retrieved from
https://www.ippf.org/sites/default/files/2020_gender_equality_re
port_web.pdf
4Wittes, B., Poplin, C., Jurecic, Q., & Spera, C. (n.d.). Sextortion:
Cybersecurity, teenagers, and remote sexual assault. Center for
Technology Innovation at Brookings. Retrieved from
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/sextortion1-1.pdf
15Hartman, S. (2014, August 10). A New Life for Refugees, and the
City They Adopted. The New York Times. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/nyregion/a-new-life-for-
refugees-and-the-city-they-adopted.html
20 http://www.epi.org/publication/child-care-affordability/
25Center for Health Care Strategies (2017). The First 1,000 Days:
Medicaid’s Critical Role. https://www.chcs.org/resource/first-
1000-days-medicaids-critical-role/
30 Ibid.
31Bogat, T.; DeJonghe, E.; Levendosky, A. A.; Davidson, W. S.; & von
Eye, A. (2006). Trauma symptoms among infants exposed to
intimate partner violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 30(2), pp. 109-
125.
38Fight Crime: Invest in Kids New York. (2002). New York’s after-
school choice: The prime time for juvenile crime or youth
enrichment and achievement. Retrieved from
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/printPage.cfm?idPage=BBE5E
803-1E0B-E803-CAB91DD809C16C08#_edn9
40Ibid.
41Taylor, Kate. (2017, Feb. 10) Graduation Rate in New York State
Hits a New High: 79.4 Percent. The New York Times. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/nyregion/graduation-
rate-in-new-york-state-hits-a-new-high-79-4.html
43Lohr, Steve, 2017, November 1. The New York Times. Where the
STEM Jobs are (and Where they aren’t. Retrieved December 15,
2017 from 367
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/education/edlife/stem-
jobs-industry-careers.html
57 Ibid.
70New York State Office of the Aging. (2015) 2015-2019 New York
State Aging Plan. Albany, New York. Retrieved from
https://aging.ny.gov/NYSOFA/Final_State_Plan_2015_2019.pdf
71 New York State Office of the Aging. (2015) New York State Office
for the Aging Data Dashboard. Retrieved from
https://aging.ny.gov/ReportsAndData/.
72 Ibid.
371
76 Ingraham, Christopher (2017, Aug. 29). Houston is experiencing
its third ‘500-year’ flood in 3 years. How is that possible?
Washington Post. Retrieved from:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/29/
houston-is-experiencing-its-third-500-year-flood-in-3-years-how-
is-that-possible/
78 Ibid.
373